Advancement in Social Technologies in Brazil: Regional concentration and SDGs representation

Abstract

Social technologies encompass technologies and knowledge which facilitate social development and can lead to the improvement in several social indicators such as inequality, access to clean water, health, and housing. The Brazilian Bank, Banco do Brasil, provides access to data containing social technologies which were analyzed and certified by the Brazilian Bank Foundation. The social technologies are an important mechanism towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals because they are developed by the agents who understand the challenges and the improvement needed the most. The database contains information about the location, the related SDGs, and the theme and sub-theme of the social technologies. It also offers a description, the identified problem, the resources needed, and the achievements already obtained. Based on this online data, this chapter describes a dataset to map the initiatives of social technologies. This chapter analyzes which SDGs are mostly represented, the problems addressed, and the locations of implementation and the locations where the institutions responsible for the social technologies are located. This chapter analyzes possible mechanisms behind concentration of social technologies by crossing this data with social-economic data at the state level, such as education, urbanization rate, and economic development. Finally, the chapter discusses the importance of social technologies to foster sustainable actions in developing countries in a long-term perspective.