20/05/2025

'The future belongs to those who have multiple skills,' says Viana.

What will the jobs of the future be like? What new skills will be required of the next generation of professionals? These and other questions guided the debate “Paths of Brazil”, held this Tuesday (20) at the Consulate General of France, in downtown Rio. Organized by the newspapers O Globo, Valor Econômico and Rádio CBN, in partnership with the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC), the event included the participation of the director-general of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, who defended a multidisciplinary education.

“The future belongs to those with multiple skills. Among the professions that will die out are all those that are specialized, that are focused on a single aspect. AI does the work of specialists better. In my view, the professions that will survive are those that require different types of talents.”

Also participating in the debate were Carlos Augusto Lopes, vice president of IBM Consulting Latin America; Luiz Tonisi, president of Qualcomm Latin America; and Rafael Segrera, CEO of Schneider Electric South America. The discussion was moderated by Glauce Cavalcanti, journalist from O Globo, and Stela Campos, career editor at Valor Econômico.

For the participants, the path to placing Brazil among the leading technological powers is still long. "The solution must involve an effective partnership between companies, the labor market, and academia," emphasized the director-general of IMPA.

According to Segrera, CEO of Schneider Electric South America, the government needs to be strongly involved in this dialogue. “Government support is necessary. Brazil missed opportunities, and now there is a new chance. We have to learn from what didn't work. And an educational transformation is fundamental. Collective and individual initiatives are important, but they are not enough. It's a joint effort between companies, government, and universities,” he opined.

Luiz Tonisi, president of Qualcomm Latin America, made a point of mentioning the opportunities that new technologies generate. “When computers arrived, people said they would replace humans, but in reality, the opposite happened. A market develops around new technologies, and that's why today there are trillion-dollar companies, because computers exist. And now there's Artificial Intelligence. Our scope is that it will encompass a multitude of new applications and services, which we don't even know yet. And we will learn along the way, as the technology becomes available,” he added.

Carlos Augusto Lopes, vice president of IBM Consulting Latin America, argued that the service sector is one of the sectors capable of placing more people in this new job market. “I’ll venture to say it will even become easier. Many years ago I worked in a factory, and to operate some equipment, the professional had to learn German. So, in some way, I believe that life will be easier for the executors, for some people who are on the front line of jobs , because they are receiving this expertise.”

Throughout the debate, Viana presented IMPA initiatives, such as the Pi Center (IMPA Center for Projects and Innovation) and IMPA Tech, which bring academia closer to the productive sector. “The undergraduate program was created within the innovation ecosystem of Porto Maravalley, focusing on interaction with companies from the beginning. We already have startups working alongside us and we expect that number to grow. Furthermore, IMPA created the Pi Center five years ago, which develops applied research using AI in areas such as rainfall forecasting, health, and others.”

The second edition of the "Paths of Brazil" debate addressed the advancement of artificial intelligence, the challenges posed not only in training the workforce of the future, and also highlighted the strategic role of partnerships between companies, educational institutions, and government in preparing the country to compete in the new era of the global technological race. The debate was broadcast live. Click to watch.