The Technopolitics Unit of the Communication Networks & Social Change (CNSC) research group—in collaboration with the Canòdrom - Digital and Democratic Innovation Center and the Department of Participation and Democratic Innovation Services of the Barcelona City Council—is pleased to invite you to the Conference «Geopolitics of Technology: Systemic Transition, Technological Sovereignty, and Democracy» that will take place in a hybrid format on Thursday, May 28, at the Canòdrom.
Venue
Canòdrom - Ateneo de Innovación Democrática y Digital
St. de Concepción Arenal, 165
08027 Barcelona
Espanya
When
28/05/2026 10.00h
Organized by
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the Technopolitics Unit of the Communication Networks & Social Change (CNSC) research group in collaboration with Canòdrom - Digital and Democratic Innovation Center and the Department of Participation and Democratic Innovation Services of the Barcelona City Council
Program
Curated by researcher and technopolitics activist Javier Toret, this conference brings together speakers from around the world to discuss a fundamental premise: technology is not neutral, but a field of geopolitical contention. The conference will explore how China, Brazil, India, or Latin America do not clone Silicon Valley, but rather building sovereign digital infrastructures, all while questioning the myth of a single model of technological development.
The event will bring together geopolitical analysts, technologists, and activists from around the world to discuss possible alternatives: from digital public infrastructures to free software and digital cooperativism. Among other speakers, Javier Toret will talk about the double revolution hypothesis: the geopolitical dispute and the technological revolution are not parallel, they are constitutive; Nick Couldry and Renata Ávila will explain digital colonialism: how Silicon Valley extracts data from the Global South without consent; Yu Hong will show the Chinese technological model and the US dispute for global leadership in AI; Kiran Chandra will explain the public digital infrastructures that India is building; Isabela Rocha will talk about the technological sovereignties being won in Brazil and the Global South.