Technology carries real potential to connect, educate, and empower. But Haroldo Jacobovicz, the Brazilian entrepreneur and founder of Arlequim Technologies, makes a distinction that is easy to overlook: technology does not automatically create equality. What separates technology that includes from technology that excludes, he argues, is intent.
When developers build solutions with only well-connected, hardware-equipped users in mind, they leave everyone else behind. Jacobovicz sees this not as an accident but as a design failure — one with real consequences for billions of people. As of 2024, approximately 2.6 billion people remain offline globally. That number is not merely a statistic; it represents a ceiling on opportunity for a significant portion of the world’s population.
His approach with Arlequim focuses on making high-performance computing accessible without requiring users to upgrade their hardware. The model is built around computer virtualization, a technology that processes demanding tasks remotely and streams results back to the user’s existing device. An eight-year-old laptop, which would otherwise struggle with modern applications, can perform as though it were something far newer. The device becomes, in his framing, a window to high computational capacity — no longer a ceiling.
This matters for education in particular. A student in a rural area with a dated machine can, in principle, access the same materials as a student in an urban center with premium equipment. But Jacobovicz is careful not to overstate what hardware alone can accomplish. It removes one barrier — a significant one — but works best as part of a broader picture that includes properly trained teachers, relevant content, and reliable internet access.
He draws a firm distinction between digital literacy and digital empowerment. Teaching someone to use a computer is a starting point, not an endpoint. Real empowerment, in his view, happens when a person applies those skills to change something material in their life — starting a small business, helping their children with schoolwork, accessing healthcare information. That kind of transformation requires ongoing engagement, not a one-off training workshop.
Inclusive technology, as he defines it, adapts to people — not the other way around. It considers affordability, cultural context, and different levels of technical comfort. It is built with diverse perspectives involved in the design process, not bolted on after the fact.
Psychological barriers receive significant attention in his thinking. Many people approach technology feeling they might break something or look foolish — a hesitation that can be as obstructive as any infrastructure gap. Language compounds the problem, both in the literal sense and in the jargon-heavy way technology tends to communicate. Experiences with online exploitation leave others wary of digital services entirely.
What brings these threads together is patience and empathy in design. Solutions need to account for the many different ways people actually interact with technology, not the ways engineers assume they will. When that happens, and when the benefits of technology become part of daily life without requiring third-party support, Jacobovicz believes genuine inclusion starts to take hold.