Brazil has become the host of the first South American World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) office. The new bureau is located at the NIC.br (Brazilian Network Information Center) institute, in São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil.
W3C officials say they are looking forward to increasing interaction with the Portuguese-speaking community through this office. They seem also to be excited with the current IT landscape in Brazil including mobile Web, Web applications, and video on the Web.
Brazil ranks with Russia, India and China – countries identified by the acronym BRIC in a 2003 report by the Goldman Sachs Investment Bank – as a rapidly growing emerging economy. According to the report, these economies together may well surpass most of today's richest countries by the year 2050.
Initiatives from the private sector and efforts by government agencies have promoted investment in business and infrastructure, from domestic and international investors alike. Brazil's diversity places the country in a position of distinction in the South American continent and strongly influences the attraction of foreign investment. It is the fifth largest country on the planet, responsible for a very promising, predominantly urban, market.
Approximately 40 million Brazilians have Internet access, the highest number of Internet users of any country in Latin America. Telecommunications Industry News reported on October 2007 that the number of wireless users in Brazil exceeds 112 million.
Brazilian companies compete effectively in a global market, and have delivered world class solutions in areas of mobile banking, open-source technology, Web accessibility, wireless Internet access, games industry, e-government solutions and HD digital television.
Regarding HDTV, the development of a specific model of digital television turns the Brazilian market into a gigantic laboratory for studying the application of that technology.
Brazil's strength in the Internet and mobile sectors will also help the country narrow the digital divide currently faced by a portion of its population.
The Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), is a not-for-profit civil organization created to be the executive arm and implement the decisions and projects derived from the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), which is in charge of the coordination and integration of the activities of Internet services in the country.
The CGI.br is a multi-stakeholder organization composed of members of the government, the private sector, non-profits, and the academic community. This composition has enabled NIC.br to innovate in areas of Internet Governance, enabling citizens to participate in the decision-making process regarding implementation, administration and use of the network.
The Brazilian W3C offices should assist with promotion efforts in Portuguese, help broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities.
Besides Brazil, W3C has offices in Australia; the Benelux countries; China; Finland; Germany and Austria; Greece; Hungary; India; Israel; Italy; Korea; Morocco; Southern Africa; Spain; Sweden; and the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web.
Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan, and has additional offices worldwide.
