CNI was founded on August 12th, 1938,  arising from  Industrial Confederation of Brazil (Confederação Industrial do Brasil ) dating back to 1933, an initiative of four Industrial Federations: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro - the last being the capital of Brazil at that period.

One of the first challenges faced by CNI was helping the country to overcome problems arising from the Second World War, what involved elaborating studies on planning production activities, defending national labor and re-equipping the manufacturing park.

In the nineteen forties, CNI was concerned about qualifying the labor force to serve the country's industry and it established the support for establishment, in 1942, of the National Industrial Training Service - SENAI (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial) and in 1946, the Social Service of Industry (SESI) thereby establishing the elements of a system that has proved capable to foster Brazil's social and economic development. In 1969 CNI founded the Euvaldo Lodi Institute, (IEL), which focused on strengthening the University-entrepreneur relationship.

From the 1940s to the 1980s, the organization concentrated its efforts on diversifying the Brazilian Industrial Park. From 1988 on CNI started to focus  on  Brazilian products’ competitiveness ,  insertion of companies into the international market and reduction of  production cost in Brazil.

In the course of those decades, and until the end of the 1990s, CNI strove to strengthen and consolidate the country's industrial park. It supported enterprise openings; faced the challenge of inserting the country in the global scenario; collaborated towards promoting technological advances in national industry and ran campaigns in favor of the international competitiveness of Brazilian products.
 
Now, after 70 years of activity, CNI is pressing the constituted branches of power for institutional reforms that may lead the country to grow with efficiency and social inclusion.
 
One of the organization's major contributions in that direction has been the development of the Industry Strategic Map over the 2007-2015 period, with goals and programs able to consolidate Brazil as a competitive economy duly inserted into the knowledge society.