At the moment the global tech race reached the construction industry, Brazil and Latin America had not yet left the starting line. The reason was clear: international players did not see us as a priority market. This gap became the fuel for the creation of Construct IN in 2019.

This trajectory received important recognition this year: winning the 21st Innovation Champions Award 2025, from Grupo Amanhã, in the MSEs and Startups category. In an exclusive interview for Revista Amanhã, Tales Silva, CEO of the company, shares the behind-the-scenes of this journey and his vision on the future of Brazilian civil construction.

The special edition of the award, with the theme “Innovation is tech”, proposed a debate on artificial intelligence as a strategy, presented data and reflections on the use of technology in Southern companies, and brought relevant cases about the global market, among other topics of interest to business managers in Brazil.

Next, we present an overview of the interview in which our CEO, Tales Silva, shares with journalist Júlia Provenzi the behind-the-scenes of our history and his vision of the future for the sector, in addition to our point of view on the main highlights of the magazine.

The future of civil construction is digital and integrated: the vision of Tales Silva

A civil engineer graduated from PUC-RS with an Executive MBA from ESPM-Sul, Tales Silva is dissatisfied with the gap between technological advancement and the processes practiced on construction sites. Since 2013, he has dedicated his career to transforming civil construction, and his experience in structural projects and industrialized construction has only increased his restlessness with the sector's inefficiency.

The journey that would lead him to become the founder and CEO of Construct IN had as its starting point an immersion in Silicon Valley in 2018. In this experience, he found inspiration to create the company that today represents the bridge between construction tradition and the disruptive mindset of technology.

“When civil engineer Tales Silva visited Silicon Valley, the cradle of global innovation, he realized the distance between the technologies applied to global civil construction and the Brazilian reality. While the world advanced in technological solutions, Brazil still struggled with traditional methods. This gap inspired the creation of Construct IN in 2019, a startup that unites civil construction and technology with disruptive solutions for the Brazilian market.” - Júlia Provenzi.

This paragraph opens Júlia Provenzi's article developed based on the interview conducted with the CEO of Construct IN for Revista AMANHÃ. In the conversation, Tales Silva highlights the central point of the revolution his company proposes: transparency.

“I end up solving the pain of transparency, on the one hand, by bringing information so that everyone is on the same page, and when I centralize the information, I make the decision quicker and more assertive regarding the problems and discussions being faced on the construction site”, notes Tales about the reality capture solution offered by Construct IN.

The SaaS approach is an example of how technology, oriented towards usability and simplicity, can overcome cultural resistance and become a vector for change. In line with the CEO's restlessness, the company's solution is always evolving, with constant improvements and updates. One of the projects developed in the research sector to improve Visi by Construct IN — reality capture software — was based on video recording and won the Innovation Champions award.

“Its technology allows recording inspection points with a simple video: the user records in 360° and marks the locations with a click, without the need for manual photos. [...] Behind a simple premise like this are benefits such as a 60% reduction in field recording time, automatic data centralization, and transparency in project monitoring.” - Júlia Provenzi.

Currently, Visi operates from 360° images, allowing the insertion of annotations, checklists, and integration with ERP, BIM, and other tools. The objective is to centralize actions, provide a complete history of the evolution of the works, and ensure secure data, solving recurring problems in the sector. This point is reinforced by Tales Silva in the interview:

“As you manage to better document the construction, you have more information and more support to discuss contract amendments, which are quite routine issues within construction companies and contracting parties in the sector.”

Although he recognizes that there is still resistance to technological adaptations, Tales' vision is optimistic — and the numbers justify it. With a diversified portfolio, which includes clients such as Petz, OXXO, Cyrela, and Banco do Brasil, Construct IN has been recording annual growth of 100%, reflecting the growing demand for digital solutions.

“Construction technology companies are getting more robust. In other words, there is greater market adherence to technological solutions. I think it is a path of no return”, states Tales.

So that you can learn a little about the civil construction scenario in relation to technological innovations, we have brought a brief contextualization of the problems seen by our leadership and the solution proposed by the winner of the Innovation Champions.

The Diagnosis of a Sector: Resistance to Change in Civil Construction

To understand the relevance of the innovation that is born in the South, one must look directly at the chronic condition that afflicts civil construction worldwide: a persistent productivity crisis.

A study by the consultancy McKinsey showed that, between 2000 and 2022, global civil construction productivity improved by only 10% in aggregate, which translates into an anemic compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 0.4%. During the same 22-year period, the productivity of the global economy as a whole advanced by 50% (a CAGR of 2%), while the manufacturing sector — frequently cited as a model of industrial efficiency — saw its productivity increase by an impressive 90% (a CAGR of 3%).

In Brazil, the scenario is even more concerning. Data from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) show that, in 2013, the productivity of the Brazilian civil construction worker was 80% lower than that of an American worker — a figure similar to that observed in 2003, revealing that, even in years of economic growth, there was no convergence (FGV, 2013). This productivity gap is intrinsically linked to compensation. A study by FIESP highlighted that construction workers in Brazil received the lowest gross annual income ($11,300) among the analyzed countries. 

This disparity is also reflected in value added: according to a study by FIESP, each construction worker in Brazil generated $18.9 thousand per year, while the OECD average is $57.8 thousand (FIESP/IBGE/OECD, 2013). This suggests a direct correlation and a vicious cycle: low productivity limits companies' ability to pay higher wages, and low wages, in turn, make it difficult to attract and retain qualified professionals, which perpetuates low productivity.

CBIC (Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry) complements this diagnosis, pointing out persistent obstacles: rising costs of human capital and inputs, regulatory bottlenecks, and the need for a more predictable business environment to attract long-term investments (CBIC, 2024).

Given this scenario, it is not surprising that digital management technologies still face deep cultural resistance. A survey conducted by Construct IN itself, among construction companies with more than 100 employees, showed that 57% of the resistance to new tools comes from upper management — wary of financial risks — and 39% comes from operational teams, who see the changes as a threat to established workflows or to their own jobs.

In parallel, only 14% of Brazilian construction companies with more than 100 employees already use reality capture, compared to more than 50% adoption in the US and Europe (Construct IN, 2024; Liga Ventures, 2024). It is in this challenging scenario that opportunities arise for startups capable of "breaking the cycle," such as Construct IN.

The Answer: Reality Capture as a Vector of Transparency and Efficiency

Construct IN's answer to the productivity crisis and the lack of digitalization was to bet on Reality Capture. The name may sound technical, but in practice, it is a paradigm shift in how constructions are documented and managed.

From 360º photos and videos — processed with artificial intelligence — a navigable digital twin of the construction is created, accessible from anywhere. As journalist Júlia Provenzi highlighted in a report for Revista Amanhã, summarizing Tales Silva's speech:

“From investor to designer, from planner to executor, everyone has the same vision of the construction” (Revista Amanhã, issue 350, 2025).

The practical effect of centralizing information through visual records is the creation of a single source of truth, which eliminates ambiguities and speeds up decisions. The impacts of this for a sector historically fragmented among emails, isolated reports, and WhatsApp groups are already measurable:

• Operational Efficiency – up to an 80% reduction in field recording time and a 50% reduction in costs with travel and commutes for face-to-face meetings on construction sites (Construct IN, 2024).

• Risk Mitigation – up to a 95% reduction in rework and post-construction issues, the result of continuous comparisons between the digital twin and the planning in BIM (Construct IN, 2024).

• Assertive Decisions – use of embedded AI for tasks ranging from calculating measurements directly on images to detecting safety situations, such as workers without helmets.

These gains explain why, according to the company itself, 65% of clients changed the way they manage their construction sites after implementing the platform. In the words of Gabriela Pierozan, BIM specialist at Engeform:

“The platform collaborated a lot to optimize the time of our internal tasks, in monitoring the evolution of the construction, measurements, and reports” (Construct IN, 2024).

The recognition of Construct IN, validated by the impact generated for its clients, inserts the startup into a much broader scenario of innovation, which was the focus of the 350th edition of Revista AMANHÃ. The publication not only celebrates the award winners but also maps the trends that are redefining the market, showing how technology and Artificial Intelligence have become the strategic axis for transformative solutions in various sectors.

Overview of Issue No. 350 of Revista AMANHÃ: The vision of Construct IN

The 350th edition of Revista AMANHÃ highlights a dynamic scenario, where technology — especially Artificial Intelligence — emerges as a strategic axis for transformative solutions. The Innovation Champions 2025 award crowned Klabin (PR) as the overall leader, followed by Whirlpool (SC) and Prati-Donaduzzi (PR).

Among the most impactful cases are the Smart POS from Positivo Tecnologia, which transformed payment terminals into intelligent platforms; the traceable towel from Döhler, based on blockchain; and the omnichannel platform from Fruki, which digitized the entire customer purchase journey. The special categories also brought emblematic solutions:

• Lar (PR): poultry inspection with AI and computer vision.

• Unisinos (RS): Expanded Classroom model, hybrid and highly connected.

• CREA-RS (RS): pioneering role in GOV.BR electronic signature.

• Sanepar (PR): policy for transforming sewage sludge into sustainable superproducts, recognized by the UN.

• Construct IN (RS): reference among startups with its 360° reality capture solution, capable of reducing registration time in construction works by up to 60%.

• Tecnosinos (RS): innovation in capturing specialized resources, strengthening the technological ecosystem of Vale do Sinos.

These examples reveal a common denominator: innovation applied to concrete problems, capable of influencing entire sectors.

Technology and AI: The Frontier of Innovation in the Brazilian Market

Summing up 39 years of tradition, Revista AMANHÃ consolidates itself as one of the main management and business publications in Southern Brazil. Led by publisher Jorge Polydoro, Grupo AMANHÃ continues its pioneering spirit in analyzing innovation through the Innovation Champions ranking, which in its 21st edition broke a historical record, with approximately 300 accesses to the evaluation questionnaire. The publication's technical credibility is reinforced by strategic partnerships with the IXL-Center in Cambridge (USA) and the application of the methodology of the Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI).

The edition positions Artificial Intelligence not just as a trend, but as a fundamental catalyst for business innovation in Southern Brazil. The publication demonstrates maturity in addressing both the opportunities and risks of AI, as evidenced in Hitendra Patel's, CEO of the IXL Center, analysis of the "four greatest threats" of technology — from existential issues to cybersecurity.

The magazine's differentiator lies in the practical contextualization of technology through real cases. Examples like the Smart POS from Positivo Tecnologia, which integrates Android into payment machines, or Cooperativa Lar's computer vision for poultry inspection illustrate this approach. Alexandre Chang, director of the IXL-Center, synthesizes this vision by stating that "technology is key to innovation, but it must be combined with an application for value capture," showing the magazine's focus on tangible and sustainable results.

Innovation Champions 2025: Artificial Intelligence as a Strategic Tool

The 21st edition of the Innovation Champions survey reveals that “companies in the South have been using technology, especially Artificial Intelligence, as a tool to offer transformative solutions”. The popularization of AI, both professionally and personally, "has shown even the most skeptical and conservative that it is a reality and has been evolving exponentially, with more and different applications, and the value generated is unquestionable", according to Fernando Onosaki, director of the IXL-Center. Onosaki describes the progression of technology from predictive and generative to AI agents, pointing to Edge AI as the next wave, which will decentralize processing to the devices themselves.

However, Chang ponders that "technology is key to innovation, but it must be combined with an application for value capture", warning about the risks of its misuse. In line with this vision, the study points to a critical and global challenge: although companies demonstrate high alignment between their innovation strategies and corporate objectives, they still "have great difficulty in generating or even measuring the results of their initiatives".

The Weight of Results and the Investment Scenario

The "Results" dimension is the heaviest in the evaluation of the Innovation Champions, as it measures the ability to turn ideas into concrete and measurable results. The investment scenario shows positive growth, with budgets for innovation increasing, on average, by more than 15% in 2024. However, the survey also reveals the impact of regional adversities: the floods in Rio Grande do Sul inhibited contributions in the area, resulting in a 10% lower budget for Rio Grande do Sul companies compared to those in Santa Catarina and Paraná.

It is exactly at this intersection – between the potential of technology and the need for practical results – that our mission gains strength. The answer to the sector's productivity crisis is not just in technology itself, but in its smart application to generate transparency and efficiency. Above all, the most lasting and impactful innovation is that which is born and develops within a strong and collaborative ecosystem.

Future Foresight: Strategically Navigating Uncertainties

In the magazine, António Alvarenga, Head of GIMI in Portugal, highlights Future Foresight as an essential tool to innovate in a highly volatile scenario. The discipline focuses on "understanding the signals of the future, the ongoing transformations, and building scenarios", allowing the identification of trends from "weak signals" to make better decisions today.

Unlike traditional forecasting, Future Foresight "puts uncertainties on the table: a world with a pandemic, with AI, with conflicts, with Donald Trump...", becoming a tool "particularly useful for times of crisis." Its analysis is done "from the outside in," focusing on the market, regulation, and competition. Alvarenga sees AI both as a "game-changing variable" and a "coworker" that speeds up the process, although key decisions remain human.

For Brazil, Alvarenga sees an "enormous field" for the application of Foresight, citing that large companies like Embraer and Petrobras already have professionals with this knowledge. He also emphasizes that innovation is not limited to products, but covers "internal, management processes" which, because they are harder to copy, generate lasting competitive advantages.

Functional Illiteracy and Industrial Competitiveness in Brazil

Revista AMANHÃ's analysis of the Brazilian educational gap should be read by the productive sector as a strategic warning: technological innovation only generates competitiveness when people can fully utilize it. According to the article, 29% of Brazilians are still functionally illiterate — including 17% of those who finished high school and up to 12% of university students. This situation directly affects the industry: less productivity, more errors, low autonomy in problem-solving, and difficulty adapting to innovative processes.

Although technical education is pointed out as an “antidote”, in our view, the solution must not be restricted to the formal educational system. Digital transformation in traditional sectors, such as civil construction, requires co-responsibility: public policies, companies, and professionals need to act in an integrated manner.

For companies, taking the lead means structuring continuous internal training programs, connected to the technologies already implemented in the daily life of construction sites and the factory floor. This practice goes beyond filling gaps left by the educational system: it is a business strategy. After all, innovation only converts into results when the worker has digital fluency, confidence in using the tools, and a critical understanding of the applications.

On the other hand, professionals also need to engage in their own learning journey. Self-development, participation in free courses, updating in digital tools, and seeking certifications increase employability and reduce exclusive dependence on corporate training.

In summary: technology is power, but qualification is the engine. Only when companies and professionals share this responsibility does innovation cease to be a promise and begin to generate real productivity, quality of execution, and sustainable competitive advantage for Brazil.

Innovation Ecosystem: From Education to the Labor Market

The 21st edition of the Innovation Champions ranking, by Revista Amanhã, brought a recognition that goes beyond our own achievement: it validated the strength of the ecosystem that formed us. The simultaneous awards for Construct IN, Tecnosinos (1st place in Technology Parks), and Unisinos (1st place in Teaching & Research) are not a coincidence. It is proof that cutting-edge innovation flourishes in collaboration.

Our victory is the direct result of being born and raised in this high-performance environment. As our CEO, Tales Silva, recalls, it was at Tecnosinos, our first home and incubator, where Construct IN took its "first steps" and found the "support to prove that our vision made sense". This triple victory demonstrates, in practice, the success of the "triple helix" model, where synergy between academia, the private sector, and government transforms ideas into high-impact businesses.

Tecnosinos: Where Innovation Meets the Market

Awarded as the leader in the debut of the Technology Parks category, Tecnosinos is a vibrant ecosystem that personifies the power of connection. Managed by Unisinos in a triple helix governance model, the park is a catalyst for the development of technology companies.

In an interview with Revista Amanhã, the executive manager of Tecnosinos, Sílvio Bitencourt da Silva, highlighted this vocation: "It is proven, not only in Brazil but worldwide, that arrangements like scientific and technological parks make a difference in the development of regions, because they manage to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation".

Impressive numbers:

• 140 installed companies, from startups to global giants like SAP.

• 8 thousand workers generating knowledge and wealth.

• Shared governance among companies, academia (Unisinos), and public authorities.

• International recognition by the European Union as a digital innovation hub.

One of Tecnosinos' differentials, highlighted in the report, is its specialized fund-raising service. Instead of just announcing public notices, a dedicated team offers complete strategic support, transforming development opportunities into reality. "These grants for project development allowed companies to increase the number of professionals working in specific and essential areas", explained Lariani Brito Schwarzbach, responsible for the initiative.

Unisinos: The Vanguard in Training Talent for the Future

A cutting-edge ecosystem needs matching talent. This is where Unisinos, winner of the Teaching & Research category, plays its vital role. The award-winning project, "Expanded Classroom", breaks the traditional barriers of education, integrating virtual environments, communities, and Tecnosinos itself into a continuous learning experience. "Knowledge is not confined within the four walls of a classroom", stated Micael Behs, undergraduate manager, to the magazine.

The university's hybrid model balances face-to-face meetings with the best of technology, maintains partnerships with more than 170 global institutions, and already shows significant results: the dropout rate reduced by 45% in the last ten years.

The synergy is evident in the numbers: 60% of the professionals working in Tecnosinos are graduates of Unisinos. This virtuous cycle ensures that excellent academic education directly feeds the market's demand for talent prepared for the challenges of the new economy.

Triple Helix: A Successful Model for Brazil

The triad of achievements of Construct IN, Tecnosinos, and Unisinos validates a powerful thesis: advanced innovation, capable of solving major challenges, flourishes more strongly when nurtured by an integrated ecosystem. As the report in Revista Amanhã so well captured in a comment by Júlia Provenzi, the true lesson of this case is that innovation is born from connection:

"The most powerful lever to transform ideas into reality is often not a technological platform, but the right combination of strategic vision, multidisciplinary expertise, and the understanding that innovating is, above all, connecting capabilities".

The success of this model, which unites academia, incubator, and startup, validates a powerful formula for generating innovation. This leads us to an inevitable question: what happens after this innovation survives its experimental stage? What ensures that it gains traction, reaches the necessary scale, and translates into real progress for the industry, instead of becoming just a promise?

After the Incubator: Whose Turn Is It to Lead Innovation in Civil Construction?

When inertia dominates a market, progress moves at a snail's pace. In civil construction, this stagnation translates into a chronic productivity crisis. If innovation ecosystems already produce viable solutions and, even so, the gap between what is built and what could be built increases, the reflection that remains is: whose responsibility is it to change this scenario?

The answer points to a fundamental truth: innovation, in its essence, is not just technological, but rather a strategic decision. After the initial boost from research and development environments, the true engine of change lies at the decision-making tables of large companies in the sector.

The challenge for innovation to achieve the promised scale and impact is twofold. On one hand, it involves breaking down the main barrier to advancement: resistance to change within the companies themselves. The perception that innovating is synonymous with high cost, complexity, and risk is an outdated legacy, invalidated by modern business models that transform paralyzing investments (CAPEX) into flexible and measurable operating expenses (OPEX).

On the other hand, overcoming resistance is only half the journey. The second challenge lies in the real engagement with change, which requires careful implementation. For a construction leader, the question is no longer whether technology can save time and money, but rather: how to implement technological innovations more efficiently in the company?

The wrong choice can be just as harmful as the decision to do nothing, wasting resources and deepening distrust. The true transformation is not in adopting just any tool, but in mastering the one that solves the central business problem and integrates intelligently with existing processes.

The role of Grupo Amanhã transcends the borders of Southern Brazil

More than an award, the Innovation Champions, promoted by Grupo AMANHÃ, has become a future laboratory for the business ecosystem. By providing a strategic stage for companies redefining their sectors, the initiative plays a key role in accelerating innovation and spreading good practices, fostering debates with impact throughout Brazil.

The strength of the ranking lies in its methodology, which applies the Innovation Management Index to ensure rigor and international comparability. Six critical dimensions of innovation management are evaluated — Strategy, Resources, Processes, Organization, Culture, and Results —, with the latter being decisive in separating conceptual initiatives from those that translate into concrete value.

This curation of excellence is the perfect setting for the debate on the future of civil construction. In the special edition of Revista AMANHÃ, you will find not only the cases that put the South on the innovation radar but also the special article about Construct IN, with exclusive insights from our CEO, Tales Silva, detailing how the company's vision is helping rewrite the sector's productivity standards.

Dive into the discussions that are shaping the future of business in Brazil.

→ Click to access the full edition of Revista AMANHÃ and read the exclusive article.