Leapfrogging or Left Behind? Brazil’s Digital Talent Landscape in the Age of AI – a Story of Promise, Constraint and Strategic Potential

This background note examines Brazil’s evolving digital and AI talent landscape and explores whether the country can leverage its digital maturity to achieve inclusive growth or risk widening structural divides. Despite its position as Latin America’s largest economy and a digitally fluent population, Brazil continues to face persistent barriers - such as educational inequality, informality, fragmented coordination, and governance inefficiencies - which constrain its ability to scale AI-ready human capital. Using LinkedIn Talent Insights data, the case provides a granular view of Brazil’s digital workforce dynamics, highlighting sectoral trends, regional disparities, and emerging AI skill clusters. It invites students to evaluate Brazil’s strategic positioning in the global digital economy and the policy, institutional, and corporate actions required to transform digital potential into national competitiveness. The case also offers comparative perspectives from India, Indonesia, and Africa, emphasizing how coordinated public–private ecosystems can accelerate digital leapfrogging in emerging markets.

This case enables participants to:
1. Analyse how macroeconomic, educational, and governance factors shape the development of digital and AI talent ecosystems in Brazil.
2. Interpret LinkedIn Talent Insights data to assess Brazil’s workforce readiness, skills gaps, and regional disparities.
3. Compare Brazil’s digital transformation trajectory with countries including India, Indonesia, and African economies to derive transferable lessons.
4. Discuss the role of Brazil’s government, academia, and business in building inclusive, future-ready talent systems in the age of artificial intelligence.
5. Design policy and strategic recommendations for enhancing Brazil’s competitiveness and bridging its digital divide.
6. Evaluate the strategic opportunities and risks for emerging economies (Brazil in this case) seeking to leapfrog through AI-driven innovation.