ITS Rio

ITS is an independent and nonpartisan research center, composed as a civic non-profit association. Our independency is assured by a set of institutional guarantees implemented by the institution since its foundation. One of these guarantees concerns the way in which ITS raises financial resources to meet its institutional purposes. To assure its independency, ITS maintains plural and multisectoral funding sources. ITS' institutional guidelines do not allow it to be supported in over 20% by any specific funder. This ensures that the institution remains independent of any individual supporter. Moreover, a significant and growing part of ITS funds are self-generated by its educational programs, courses and training capacities, which count on hundreds of students that recognize our pioneering researches and courses and are willing to study with us. ITS also counts on its network of national and international academic partners, which include the University of Harvard (in the US), the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and Science Po (in France). All institute activities must necessarily be comprehended in the permanent lines of research, which are: i. Rights and technology; ii. Democracy and technology; iii. Connectivity and fomenting innovation; and iv. Reinventing educational methodologies. All ITS projects are conducted in an independent way, so that it does not accept any interference of supporters and partners in the conduction of its results. All ITS activities must attend to public interest, which is defined as the sum of the set of all society's sectors (government, academic community, scientific community, private sector, civil society, etc). All activities are compromised in defending democracy, human rights and constitutional values. In addition to all guarantees mentioned above, ITS' independency is ensured by its institutional governance model. ITS has a body of board members that does not receive any payment from the institution. This board takes all the institutions' fundamental decisions, including its acting, selecting, and nomination principles of new board members and in the naming of its directory. ITS also counts with a supervisory board that acts in the same terms as the administration council. It is also audited annually by an international and independent auditing (top-tier). ITS is also formally recognized by international legislations as a charity organization subject to all the applied requirements and restrictions demanded, in the sense of adopting practices so that the organization may keep its independence. Finally, ITS values plural opinions inside the institute, ensuring that its members can freely express divergent opinions, so it does not remain a single-minded place.