Hosted by the City of Barcelona and bringing together leading thinkers about technology, cities, and geopolitics, BITS is a strategic partnership between the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3/UOC), the Institute of Government and Public Policy (IGOP/UAB), and a network of social movement activists and academics. It originates from the partners’ shared interest in developing a strategic vision of using advanced information technologies to benefit an alternative political, social, and economic agenda.

BITS will stimulate a global debate about the changing meanings of sovereignty and explore the ways in which various types of sovereignty – of citizens, cities, nation states, and regions – can still be maintained in today’s highly technological global conditions. With a strong focus on the political effects of technological change, BITS will explore how the rise of technology platforms and the data extractivism they enable is transforming governments, labor, ownership, and access to the basics of life such as water, food, housing, and energy. This task is particularly important as the current political and economic regime reformulates itself around the rhetorical and practical kernel of digital technology, with a new mighty alliance between technology firms, global finance, and the military-industrial complex.