Inovelab

iPhone brazilian users are very concerned about the possibility of being fined. That is what the ranking of paid apps downloaded on the App Store Brazil says, the iPhone and iPod touch software store from Apple.

Top of the list is the iRadar Brazil 2.0 application, which costs $ 1.99 and shows in the smartphone screen the location of the of radars around the streets of Brazilian cities. Upon reaching the radar (the distance you set in preferences), it emits a warning sound or vibration. To do this, use the GPS feature and the triangulation of cellular antennas.

The application, currently in its version 2.0, has had its release 3.0 submitted to Apple for approval. With it, besides having access to more than 8 thousand radars, cameras and electronic speed bumps, you can enter new radars. The 3.0 also fixes a bug that turned off the music (if the User is using the iPod) when radar is detected.

Emerging companies in the biotechnology and nanotechnology sectors are going to receive a boost. The creation of a venture capital fund has been passed by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). According to the BNDES, the two sectors have been selected in keeping with the institution’s strategy of supporting technological innovation in the country’s industrial matrix, as a means of guaranteeing the competitiveness of Brazilian companies.

The bank will participate by means of its subsidiary BNDES Participações (BNDESPAR), and will own up to 25% of the fund’s committed equity.

The venture capital fund will be established under the BNDES’ Investment Funds Program, launched in July last year. In the first phase, in August 2008, the program selected three private equity funds: BB Brasil Agronegócio, FIP Terra Viva and CRP VII.

According to the BNDES, the investment targets for the second and third phases are being selected. The bank intends to choose funds linked to assets in forestry and oil and gas. The BNDES currently takes part in 31 investment funds, with committed equity of approximately 8 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 4.4 billion).

By Spencer E. Ante

Over the last few years, China and India have emerged as the twin hot spots of emerging tech innovation. Now IBM (IBM) is betting that one of the next big technology stars will be Brazil.

In the latest sign of Brazil's rising power, Big Blue is announcing on Aug. 18 a new initiative to stimulate the development of the country's technology sector. To kick off the effort, IBM is hosting its first-ever forum for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in São Paulo along with FINEP, the Brazilian government agency that finances technology development. The daylong event will bring together more than 100 investors and dozens of new companies looking for investment and business advice.

IBM is also launching a Portuguese version of its developerWorks Web site, which provides free programs and online teaching guides that help programmers build skills in the Java programming language, the Linux operating system, and IBM products such as Lotus. To host the event, IBM has dispatched Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of IBM Venture Capital Group, and Steve Mills, senior vice-president and group executive of IBM's $20 billion Software Group, a clear sign of the growing importance of Brazil to the IBM portfolio.

"We have been watching Brazil for a while," says Munce, who grew up in Brazil. "The time is right."

In the past, Brazil has been hobbled by hyperinflation, rampant political corruption, and failed fiscal and monetary policies. But with a growing and stable economy in recent years, multinational corporations such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and venture capital and private equity players now see additional opportunity for technology innovation in the sun-drenched nation. "That potential is there," says Mills. "The university systems are strong. There is a level of interest in entrepreneurship that is growing."

Investors increasingly see Brazil as an attractive destination. As of the end of 2008 nearly 150 local and foreign investment firms had committed $28 billion in venture and private equity capital to Brazilian companies, according to the Brazilian Association for Private Equity & Venture Capital. That's up from $6 billion in 2004, amounting to a hearty 50% compound annual growth rate over the last four years. Investors have financed 500 Brazilian companies to date with venture or private equity capital, and there's $12 billion left to invest over the next few years from that $28 billion kitty.

Still, the country's business challenges, including high taxes and restrictive labor laws, could hamper growth. And native businesspeople say a Silicon Valley-like ecosystem where risk and creative thinking in technology are the norm remains elusive. "We do not have an ecosystem in place," says Berthier Ribiero-Neto, head of Google's (GOOG) Latin American research and development center, which is based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. "Most of the students go to work for the outsourcing companies. I would like to see more product development."

The IBM initiative is designed to help remedy some of those issues. The idea is to serve as a matchmaker and coach to the growing number of companies IBM works with in Brazil. In fact, IBM's Munce says that among the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Brazil is seeing the highest growth in business partners that IBM works with, averaging 150% year over year.