Brazil’s technology sector has recorded progress across innovation, research and development, talent formation and entrepreneurship. At the same time, data presented in the second edition of the TICs 2026 study, released by Softex Observatory, highlight structural challenges that continue to affect the country’s competitiveness.

The publication examines Brazil’s Software and Information and Communication Technology Services Industry and analyzes talent development, the labor market, technology adoption, research and development, and startup activity. The findings point to an expanding business and technology base, alongside challenges related to professional qualifications, innovation costs, R&D investment, and the maturity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Technology education expands, but quality and retention remain challenges

Training technology professionals remains a strategic factor for the development of Brazil’s digital economy.

In 2024, Brazil recorded:

  • 4,190 Information Technology programs, representing 9.2% of higher education programs;
  • 50% of the available programs concentrated in the Southeast region;
  • 30.57% located in the state of São Paulo;
  • 87.3% of available places offered through distance learning;
  • 109,875 professionals graduating through distance-learning programs, an increase of 30.6% compared with 2023.

Despite this expansion, the study identifies challenges related to education quality and student retention. Around 71% of programs evaluated by ENADE received scores of 2 or 3, while dropout rates in private distance-learning programs exceed 50%.

Strategic fields have also expanded rapidly. Enrollment in Artificial Intelligence programs increased from 396 to 3,250 between 2022 and 2024, while the number of available places in Cyber Defense grew from 4,785 to 113,080 between 2019 and 2024.

Business base and technology adoption continue to expand

Brazil’s technology business landscape has also grown significantly.

In 2025, the country had 627,124 companies in the Software and ICT Services Industry, representing a 21% increase from 2023 to 2025.

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence also increased:

  • From 12.94% to 17.46% across companies on average;
  • From 38.24% to 48.88% within the Information and Communication sector.

Cloud computing had already been adopted by 55.64% of companies and by 74.71% of organizations in the ICT sector.

The main barriers to innovation identified by the study include:

  • Technology costs: 78.6%;
  • Shortage of qualified professionals: 54.2%.

These figures suggest that the expansion of technology adoption is occurring alongside the need to increase the availability of specialized talent and address barriers to innovation.

Technology sector offers above-average remuneration

In 2025, the sector accounted for 1.32 million formal employment relationships, equivalent to 2.20% of Brazil’s total.

Average remuneration reached R$8,253.55, approximately 64.28% above the services sector average.

The data underscore the economic relevance of technology-related activities and reflect growing demand for qualified professionals in areas that are increasingly strategic to the digital economy.

R&D grows, but investment remains below leading global innovation hubs

In research and development, the study points to growth in investment and scientific infrastructure, although Brazil remains behind the world’s leading innovation economies.

Brazil invests between 1.3% and 1.7% of GDP in science and technology, compared with 6.35% in Israel and 5.32% in South Korea.

Within the Software and ICT Services Industry, R&D expenditure increased from:

  • R$1.9 billion in 2008
  • to R$3.6 billion in 2017.

Spending on specialized scientific and technical activities exceeded R$10 billion. Brazil also has 583 Science and Technology Institutions (STIs), of which **57.1% operate in Technology and Communication-related fields.

Software registrations increase while ICT patent filings decline

The intellectual property indicators presented in the study reveal contrasting trends.

Software registrations with the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) increased from 2,099 in 2020 to 7,232 in 2025, indicating significant growth in the formal registration of software assets.

At the same time, patent applications related to Information and Communication Technologies declined by 20.4%.

The differences between these indicators highlight distinct dynamics within Brazil’s innovation system and underscore the importance of monitoring how companies, research institutions, and entrepreneurs use intellectual property protection mechanisms.

Startup ecosystem grows, but maturity and access to capital remain challenges

In 2025, Brazil had 3,923 technology-based startups, within a broader ecosystem of 22,869 startups.

Most were still in the early stages of development:
  • 67% were in the validation or traction stages;
  • Only 3.3% had reached the scale stage;
  • 50.1% reported no revenue.

The B2B model accounted for 70% of companies, while SaaS solutions represented 64.4% of the ecosystem analyzed.

Access to investment capital remains another key challenge. Venture capital funding declined from US$11.2 billion in 2021 to US$4.5 billion in 2025. For the first time in 15 years, Mexico surpassed Brazil in investment volume.

Regional concentration also remains significant: the Southeast accounts for 40.2% of startups, São Paulo for 24.8%, and Santa Catarina for 13.3%.

Brazil’s innovation ecosystem: growth alongside structural challenges

The TICs 2026 findings point to consistent growth in Brazil’s technology sector, driven by business expansion, increased adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, and the development of strategic talent pipelines.

At the same time, indicators related to R&D investment, talent availability, patent applications and access to capital demonstrate that further progress will depend on addressing structural challenges.

In this context, Brazil’s future competitiveness will depend not only on the continued expansion of its technology sector, but also on its ability to transform knowledge, research, development and entrepreneurship into technologies, intellectual assets and scalable businesses.