Report calls for ‘state transformation’ to achieve Brazil’s sustainable growth goals
A new report, led by economist Mariana Mazzucato, recommends ways for Brazil to strengthen public procurement, state-owned enterprises and digital infrastructure to achieve its goal of sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Mazzucato is professor of economics of innovation and public value and founding director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) at University College London. She is a proponent of mission-oriented government – where governments actively shape markets and drive innovation to tackle major societal challenges – and IIPP has been working with Brazil’s Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services on implementing this approach since 2023.
Brazil has launched initiatives such as the Ecological Transition Plan, the New Growth Acceleration Plan, the New Industrial Policy, and the Climate Plan, which aim for economic development that also prioritises decarbonising the economy and tackling social inequality.
The IIPP report says that while the government’s “agenda of economic transformation is deliberately bringing economic, social and environmental priorities into alignment”, realising its full potential “will require a parallel agenda of state transformation, to empower the public service to successfully direct growth and shape markets that work for the people of Brazil and for the planet”.
Read more: Brazil’s new climate investment platform hailed as ‘an example to the world‘
Global relevance
While the IIPP report focuses on Brazil, it says its recommendations are “relevant globally”.
It highlights existing efforts that Brazil can build on, such as the policy of procuring products from family farms for public school meals, and tools such as PIX, a digital public payment system that handles over 5.5 billion transactions a month.
Key suggestions in the report include shifting procurement strategies towards outcomes, and better coordination between government departments to ensure spending aligns with national goals.
The report recommends that Brazil develop a framework to define and measure the public value of procurement to incentivise policy-aligned purchasing, and strengthen the strategic coordination of state-owned enterprises, either by reforming an existing interministerial body or creating a new one.
The report says that ‘digital public infrastructure’ – foundational digital systems that help governments deliver services – should be designed with the public good in mind and scaled through local experimentation. This includes orienting digital infrastructure around a clear use case, aligned with an overarching policy priority. The report gives the example of Brazil’s Rural Environmental Registry to track deforestation and promote sustainable agro-industrial chains, in line with the New Industrial Policy and Ecological Transformation Plan.
The report also emphasises the need for effective data sharing and capacity-building across government to implement these reforms successfully. It notes additional areas that are important but beyond the focus of the report, such as citizen engagement.
Find out more about missions at Innovation 2025 – 25-26 March: Sessions will cover how to get government focused on mission delivery, and making missions happen: rewiring government to deliver. Find out more and register to attend here.
Public-private partnership
In the foreword of the report, Esther Dweck, minister of management and innovation in public services for Brazil, said: “The current generation of civil servants faces a historic challenge: building a state with the capacity to provide agile responses to the multiple crises we face while ensuring it remains – as it always has throughout history – the guiding force and pillar of national development.”
She said the report “symbolises a remarkable step in building a more just, digital and sustainable Brazil, where the state and the private sector act as partners in development and prosperity”.
The report concludes that: “If Brazil brings the same ambition to its agenda of state transformation that it has brought to its economic and ecological transformation agendas, it could demonstrate to other governments around the world what it means to bring economic, social and environmental policy priorities into alignment.”
Other governments around the world are also taking a mission-driven approach, including the UK. Prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government, which came to power in July, has set out its agenda around five national missions: kickstarting economic growth; making Britain a clean energy superpower; safer streets; breaking down barriers to opportunity; and building an NHS fit for the future.
Making government work
Global Government Forum research published last year identified key pillars of a modern, effective civil service.
Based on interviews with 12 senior civil service leaders from around the world and led by Lord Gus O’Donnell, former Cabinet secretary and head of the UK’s civil service, the research highlights the need for collaborative working structures that transcend organisational silos. It concludes that this requires: empowering a strong central authority to oversee and enforce collaborative efforts; integrating political and official decision-making to streamline processes; adequate resourcing to facilitate cross-government working; and maintaining a long-term focus to overcome the transient challenges of political cycles.
One official described collaboration as “one of the most, if not the most, fundamental challenges facing government”.
“We have horizontal problems and we have vertical organisations,” one said. “The question I always like to ask is: whose job is it to wake up every day trying to resolve that fundamental disconnect?”
Download the report: Making Government Work: Five pillars of a modern, effective civil service
About Sarah Wray
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as a journalist with a specialism in the public sector and topics such as digitalisation and climate action. Sarah was formerly the editor of Cities Today and Smart Cities World, as well as a specialist video-based publication in the aerospace sector. She has also written for publications including Smart Cities Dive, Mobile Europe, Mobile World Live and Computer Weekly.
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