Open institute for digital transformations

Mission

Digital technologies - like climate change - are rapidly transforming our societies. They are also the source of rigorous debate: seen either as a source of great promise in terms of democratic participation, collective organization and knowledge production, or as the source of future catastrophes, from the collapse of democracies and rampant disinformation to the replacement of humans by machine. These visions share a common thread: the belief that the social sphere is entirely conditioned by its technical environment. The humanities and social sciences have a responsibility in these debates to defend a more nuanced perspective that contextualizes these technologies within a broader social, political and cultural space.

The main mission of the Open Institute is to re-examine the digital world from a social sciences perspective. It draws on historical, economic, legal, sociological and political analyses to understand and explain the transformations brought about by digital innovations, and to examine how technologies themselves adapt to societal changes.

The Open Institute defends an alternative vision of digital technologies and their societal impact, reflecting a French and European approach driven by democratic values. It intends to develop a constructive discourse on digital technologies and services, which is both critical of and open to the opportunities offered by digital tools. In order to complete this mission, the Open Institute will not only draw on the humanities and social sciences, but also build strong collaborations with other scientific disciplines (including via the TIERED project partners) to investigate technologies and the knowledge that underpins them, with the help of those who produce data and design algorithms.

Building on its 15 years of experience in examining these challenges, Sciences Po, with the creation of the Open Institute for Digital Transformations, will offer research and academic opportunities combining an understanding of technical tools and their impact. In so doing, the university is establishing itself as a unique and influential player in the French, European and global technological landscape.

Objectives

The Institute, created as a part of the TIERED project, supports Sciences Po’s actions on digital transformations. It has the following objectives:

• Promote Sciences Po's unique position at the intersection of research, education, and impact by giving visibility and coherence to existing initiatives and programs in France and internationally.
• Reinforce research on and with digital technologies to make Sciences Po a research university of reference in the humanities and social sciences on the challenges of digital transformations for our democracies.
• Strengthen the educational offer to provide all students, across all programmes and throughout the continuum of studies, with training on digital challenges and practical skills. 
• Accelerate collaboration with to other scientific disciplines beyond the social sciences and humanities, for research and training purposes.
• Contribute to a new policy of disseminating and promoting knowledge through open science, engagement in public debate and finding new pathways to involve the public in our research.

ThemesHEMES

Five priority themes will guide our interdisciplinary work with partners over the next three years:

• Digital inequalities: Far from the objective neutrality they promise, AI algorithms and prediction tools pose serious problems of equity in many fields of application (from health to education, public administration, etc.). The feeling that these algorithms are “black boxes” is reinforced by the opacity surrounding their methods. This theme looks at how we can understand, evaluate, and combat these inequalities.
• Politicization of science: Scientific expertise, and scientific institutions more broadly, are increasingly contested and enmeshed in social and political issues. The aim of this theme is to understand the new interactions being established between science and society in a wide range of fields (including oceans, health, etc.).
• Digital participation: This theme focuses on describing new forms of political participation, whether they result from deliberative mechanisms directly mediated by technology, or emerge from forms of mobilization and spontaneous public expression online. It follows the transformation of political life in a context of growing mistrust in representative democracy. It also seeks to understand how opinions and new political forms are structured in transnational digital spaces, and the impact of disinformation and polarization on the legitimacy of elections.
• Digital traces for the social sciences: Social data are no longer reduced to statistics produced by state agencies. In the digital age, social data is everywhere which raises not only theoretical questions of social science, but also legal questions concerning access to such data. In addition, AI offers new perspectives for adding value to classic social science data, such as qualitative interview databases.
• Culture as Data: This theme examines how to compose (including the technical and legal issues) and exploit cultural databases (books, films, digital videos, music, diplomatic cables, museum collections, press archives, etc.) to retrace the history of social representations and power relations over time.

Team and governance

Director : Jean-Philippe Cointet
Secretary General : Carly Hafner

• An internal steering committee, composed of members of the COMEX of Sciences Po, supports the deployment of a transformative agenda for the institution. It meets twice a year to define strategic directions and approve the annual report of the Institute. The committee relies on the scientific council of Sciences Po, committees comprising directors of research units, department heads, and deans.
• A scientific council, made up of members of the permanent faculty of Sciences Po, CNRS, partners of the TIERED project, and international experts, sets the scientific direction of the Institute. This is done in accordance with the commitment charter of the TIERED project (signing modalities, etc.) and the code of ethics of Sciences Po. Its members are appointed for a term of three years (renewable once). The scientific council meets three to four times a year, and its decisions are documented. It relies on international experts once a year and is chaired by the director of the Institute.
• A stakeholder council brings together elected officials, public authority representatives, business leaders, nonprofit leaders, qualified personalities, and student community representatives, appointed for a three-year term (renewable) and chosen in accordance with our code of ethics. Its purpose is to support the deployment of the Institute's missions, provide consultative opinions on the actions and projects of the Institute, and formulate guidance on development needs, particularly in relation to the labor market. It meets once or twice a year and can be consulted on specific topics. This council is chaired by Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
  The Free Institute of Digital Transformations is also integrated into the leadership structure of the TIERED project and presents its work to the partner committee.

Partners

To achieve its goals, the Free Institute of Digital Transformations relies on strong partnerships with:

• The partners of the TIERED project (CNRS, INRIA, INED, INSERM, IFREMER, INALCO, and Université Paris Cité) to renew educational offerings, and to develop research programs and facilities; a think tank expert in public policy, the IDDRI.
• Public and private partners to anchor social science research in discussions on transformations induced in the labor market.
  Internationally renowned academic partners, such as those from CIVICA (link).
• The new initiatives of the Free Institute of Digital Transformations will be funded through dedicated fundraising efforts.

Support the institute for digital transformations

• Benefit from sponsor status, which offers brand exposure on our physical and digital communication materials
• Access unpublished research
• Be associated with public events organised by the Institute in connection with its seminars and conferences, which may result in a publication and promotional activities.
• Experience the highlights of life at Sciences Po (conferences, academic and student life)

BENEFIT FROM TAX EXEMPTIONS

As a company
60% of your support is deductible from your corporate tax

As an individual
66% of your donation to Sciences Po is deductible from income tax
75% of your donation to Sciences Po is deductible from real estate wealth tax

Do you live outside France?
We will work with you to ensure you get the tax benefits provided for in the legislation of your country of residence (US, UK, and the rest of Europe).