The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has created a new source of opportunity for the most innovative companies in the country. For those who rank the highest in the Valor Inovação Brasil 2025 Yearbook, AI is considered an essential fuel for power work routines and business strategy. The main impacts are felt by cost reductions and increased efficiency, product development, inventory management, and more effective use of human capital.
The major awards for research, development and innovation in Brazil were organized by Valor in collaboration with PWC's strategy, winning the 11th edition this year, and mapping 264 companies across 25 sectors of the economy. Almost half (45%) of the companies surveyed the survey invested on average between 1% and 5% of their innovation revenues, followed by 26% investing more than 5% in new projects, compared to 20% in 2020.
The opening of the event on Tuesday (19) in Sao Paulo, Maria Fernanda del Mas, Editor-in-Chief of Valor Economico and Editor Grobo's Economics and Business Brand Editors presented a summary of the key lessons learned from the victory case. “Companies need to invest in training and qualifications to help their teams innovate. However, senior leadership commitment is important for innovation to penetrate throughout the organization,” she added, the process must go further, reaching the supplier chain and include partnerships with universities and startups. “Innovation doesn't just improve your business. Ideally, we should also explore creating social and environmental impacts.”
Technology plays a central role. “From an innovation perspective, AI has placed the generation of corporate radar knowledge, accuracy, analysis speed and insights,” said Gerson Charchat, Strategy & Brazilian leader. “It's more than technology. It's a way to break down silos, promote open innovation and bridge the entire industry.”
At Natura, we won the cosmetics and personal care winners at the general general. Chatbots and intelligent systems are freeing up teams to improve operational efficiency and focus on strategic initiatives. “AI tools strengthen a culture of comprehensive innovation, but the ability to simulate scenarios and test hypotheses accelerates the verification of ideas,” said CEO Joan Paulo Ferreira. “Generated AI also supports employees' digital journeys.”
For agribusiness leader San Martinho, AI has become one of the main enablers of new technologies in digital transformation, CEO Fábio Venturelli reports. Using the entire group's operations increases cost reduction, efficiency and agility. “This occurs especially in digital routines that support sector, management and industrial activities,” he explained, adding that the technology has gained the traction of precision agriculture and autonomous equipment.
Nestlé has been applying for AI for about seven years, first with food and drinks. “We have “nesgpt” which has the same technology as ChatGpt,” says Barbara Sapner, executive director of business transformation. “Employees use it to generate content, prepare meeting agendas and analyze data. Over the past 12 months, almost 5,500 employees have used the tool every day.”
According to Latin America's president Rafael Miott, outstanding innovation in equipment, technology and services is considered a key ally of the future of agriculture and industry. The company, which owns brands such as Case IH and New Holland, uses AI with Harvesters, which automatically adjusts operations on the farm. One of the results is improving grain quality.
“I see banks that are increasingly efficient, competitive and intensively leveraging technology,” said Marcelo Noronha, CEO of Bradesco, initially among the banks. The bank is innovating with generator AI and machine learning systems that will support R$8.8 billion investments in 2024 and 2025. This year, we released “Intelligent PIX” on WhatsApp, allowing for transfers for each voice command.
Capital Goods recipient Embraer and corporate innovation leader Leonardo Garnica explained that since late 2024, aircraft manufacturers have run a material management platform that evaluates about 250,000 items purchased in-house. “The goal is to enable intelligent planning of procurement and inventory,” he pointed out.
Commerce leader Mercado Livre is betting on three extension strategies: generator AI, automated logistics and financial solutions. With over 3,500 Brazilian developers and 650 experts dedicated to machine learning, the company has raised its product development investments from $146 million in 2018 to $1.9 billion in 2024.
First in the case of Constuora Barbosa Mello (CBM) in Construction and Engineering, AI has become a tool for increasing decision-making and competitive advantage, stressed Corporate Vice President Alícia Figueiró. One application is the management of unmanned equipment fleets, whose systems monitor in real time metrics such as excavation volume, truck speed, and logistics efficiency.
Ranked in the top 10 overall, Grupo Boticário expanded its workforce to keep up with the evolution of AI. “Since we decided to expand our IT department in 2019, our team has grown from 200 to 3,000 employees, including 500 data and AI experts.”
Education winner Vitru has conducted over 40 experiments with generative AI focused on learning and customer service, CEO William Matos said. “This system increases productivity, enables a hyper-personal experience for students and encourages content retention.”
At WEG, a leader in electrical and electronics, AI has enhanced fault detection in industrial motors with the help of sensors, reducing the time required to prepare technical product quotes by 80%. “We also reduced the motor analysis process by 40% due to the fast machine adjustment.”
According to CEO Ricardo Botelho, AI has improved risk mapping, prevented fraud, opened opportunities to avoid blackouts and avoided blackouts, as electricity is the first-class energy source. With simpler processes such as changing power invoice accounts, data analytics systems can save businesses over R25 million per year by reducing losses from outstanding invoices.
One of the top ten overall, Eletrobras has established a surveillance centre to house data scientists and meteorologists. The goal is to leverage AI for climate alerts and forecasts for generation and transmission using data collected by sensors installed in the infrastructure. “This ensures more accurate information about all our operations,” said Julian No Dantas, Chief Innovation Officer.
At EMS, Carlos Alberto Fonseca de Moraes, leader of Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences and Director of R&D and Innovation, pointed out the role of AI in the development of new drugs. “We've already applied it to molecular design, clinical simulation and predictive analytics.”
For BRK Ambiental, the first in infrastructure, innovation spans governance, customer service and software development, according to CEO Alexandre Thioler. One successful example he added was the adoption of AI to define the “technical route” that is most suitable for wastewater treatment plants. “AI supports the technical design of projects by balancing contractual obligations, hydrological risks, costs and return on investment capital.”
Dexco, a leading Brazilian player in building materials, has AI as the basis for its innovation strategy in areas such as sales, law, and customer service. “It is used to provide customized B2B solutions through data analytics and improve the customer experience,” says CIO and growth director Daniel Franco.
The Valor Inovação Brasil 2025 awards are organized by Valor, sponsored by Arcelor Mittal at the gold level, and also produces trophies. Silver sponsors are Itaiki Binacional, Energy and Investment (Government of Piaui). The bronze sponsors are Natura, Bradesco and Copasa (the government of Minas Gerais). This event is supported by Ford and is affiliated with Strategy&.
