Brazil is today one of the new world players of our global economy and society.

Alongside Russia, India and China, it is one of the so‐called BRIC superpower quartet of the 21st century, as defined by Goldman Sachs in 2003.

Considered by several analysts to be one of the few countries to best overcome the current financial crisis, Brazil’s dynamic economy – recently propelled by the discovery of large offshore oil reserves – has, together with the social‐minded policies of two Lula da Silva administrations, witnessed in recent years the rise of millions of people from poverty and the appearance of a burgeoning middle class.

Brazil is also a nation of growing scientific, cultural and industrial might: from Niemeyer’s architecture to Embraer’s planes, from Cansei de Ser Sexy’s “baile funk” to the recent merger of two large food companies into Brazil Foods, the world’s top exporter of processed meat and chicken.

With a population of almost 200 million people, an increasingly diverse and open manufacturing and consumption market and a growing cultural and economic influence in Latin America and Africa in particular, Brazil is also now ripe to become a design powerhouse. Or is it? I want to find out how this fascinating period of the country’s economic, social and cultural history is being interpreted by Brazilian manufacturers, education centers, media outlets and institutions, but particularly by its design practitioners.