Ronaldo Caiado, the presidential candidate for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), criticized President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro on Tuesday, saying Lula is at least 100 years behind on scientific and technological advances and that Flávio has no sense of Brazil. Caiado made the comments during a visit to the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo state.
Asked about what his policy for the sector would look like if he wins the presidency, Caiado said Lula's delay was causing major damage to Brazil's future, and that Flávio lacked the knowledge to understand the country, asking how he could possibly govern it.
Caiado's criticism of the PT government
Caiado also said the government led by Lula's Workers' Party (PT) had been a giveaway to foreign interests, describing it as a government that behaved like a colony and never developed technology of its own. He said the technology that had been developed in the country came from his own state, Goiás, where he has served as governor.
Caiado argued that science and technology policy should be tied to industrialization and to the country's ability to turn its natural resources into higher value products. He pointed to rare earths, strategic minerals used in products such as electric motors, turbines, batteries and electronic equipment, as an example. He criticized what he considers Brazil's dependence on exporting raw material without processing it, calling Lula's government a seller of raw material and saying the country should instead attract investment and technology to carry out stages such as producing compounds, alloys, magnets, semiconductors and turbines domestically.
CNN Brasil sought comment from Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro on Caiado's remarks. The outlet said it remained open to a response.
Goiás and the rare earths push
Caiado's push for industrializing the rare earths supply chain reflects a policy he has pursued as governor of Goiás. The state is home to the Serra Verde mine in Minaçu, in the north of Goiás, currently the only large-scale commercial rare earths operation in Brazil. Production there is still concentrated on extraction, with the raw material sent to China for further processing.
Under Caiado's administration, Goiás has worked to attract foreign investment and technology agreements to move further along that chain. In 2025, the state government negotiated with Japan on the exploration and processing of rare earths, with the stated strategy of moving beyond exporting concentrate to carrying out higher value stages within the state. In 2026, the Goiás government also advanced negotiations with the United States to develop processing and manufacturing capabilities, including rare earths separation, alloy production and the manufacture of permanent magnets.
Caiado's national science and technology plan
In the government plan he presented for the presidential election, Caiado also formalized a specific agenda for science, technology and innovation. The document sets a goal of consistently expanding public and private investment in research, development and innovation, and calls for stability for the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT), with multi-year execution and protection against budget freezes.
Among the proposals are raising investment in research and development to 2% of gross domestic product, expanding private sector participation in R&D spending, and guaranteeing multi-year execution of the FNDCT. The plan also calls for modernizing the Lei do Bem, a law that provides tax incentives for corporate research spending, along with incentives for cooperation between universities and companies and policies aimed at data centers and artificial intelligence.
Visit to the Sirius particle accelerator
During his visit to CNPEM, Caiado toured Sirius, a particle accelerator used for scientific research, and repeated his call for increased investment in the sector.
