The BRICS Strategy and Technology Review (BSTR) is an academic journal linked to the BRICS+ Forum for Strategic Technology, dedicated to critical debate on technological sovereignty, data governance, security, and power in the international system. Published in scientific format and organized at OJS, the journal brings together contributions from researchers and experts committed to a strategic reading of technological development from the Global South.
Latest edition
volume 1, edition 1
The first edition of the BRICS Strategy and Technology Review is a direct result of the debates and contributions of the 1st Seminar on Strategy, Technology and Sovereignty, held at the University of Brasília in 2024, as an open conference linked to the 5th National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation .
Organized by the Strategy, Data and Sovereignty Working Group of the Group for Studies and Research in International Security at the University of Brasília (GEPSI IREL UnB) in partnership with the South American Institute of Politics and Strategy (ISAPE), this volume brings together academic input and strategic reflections on technological sovereignty, data governance, security and power, consolidating in a scientific format a collective debate aimed at formulating agendas specific to the Global South.
STRATEGIC INPUTS
The Digital Sovereignty Index (DSI) is a comparative index developed by the BRICS Tech Forum, GEPSI UnB, and GETIP USP to measure how countries accumulate and exercise technological power within the contemporary international order. The project evaluates more than 80 countries across four core dimensions — hardware, software, cognition, and governance — identifying capacities for autonomy, dependency, and strategic coordination.
By transforming digital sovereignty into a comparable metric, the DSI offers a strategic tool for researchers, policymakers, companies, multilateral institutions, and Global South actors seeking to understand structural vulnerabilities, national capabilities, and power disputes within the contemporary technological environment. The index aims to support the formulation of development, governance, and autonomy strategies in a context marked by the global concentration of infrastructure, data, and computational capacity.
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The study Contracts, Codes and Control constitutes a strategic input for the BRICS+ Strategic Technology Forum, carried out in partnership with FGV and UnB, and aims to understand how the Brazilian State's contractual dependence on large foreign technology companies reconfigures power, governance, and public autonomy. Through a systematic examination of official government procurement databases, we mapped contracting patterns, values, and key actors, revealing how critical digital infrastructures come to operate under proprietary codes and opaque contractual arrangements.
We understand that technological architecture consolidates discrete forms of control, with direct effects on digital sovereignty and state capacity, and it is from this diagnosis that we guide our actions in Brazil, articulating research, proposal formulation, and public advocacy aimed at strengthening sovereign alternatives and a more balanced insertion of the country in the technological dynamics of the BRICS+ space.
BRICS+ Charter on Digital Sovereignty and Internet Governance
The BRICS+ Charter on Digital Sovereignty and Internet Governance, drafted within the framework of the II Conference on Strategy, Technology and Sovereignty , presents a political and normative framework built by civil society to affirm digital sovereignty as a condition for autonomy, security, and self-determination in a multipolar world. The document argues that data, code, infrastructure, and algorithms are strategic assets and proposes eleven principles that articulate multilateral governance, protection of rights, South-South cooperation, technology transfer, cognitive defense, and non-exclusive sustainability. By combining policy guidelines with institutional mechanisms and verifiable goals, the Charter seeks to guide BRICS+ and Global South states in building their own capacities, reducing structural dependencies, and consolidating a more just and plural digital order.
The BRICS+ Charter for Technological Sovereignty in Space
The BRICS+ Charter for Technological Sovereignty in Space establishes a political and ethical framework to affirm space as a common heritage of humanity and reject its appropriation by a few dominant actors. The document organizes ten principles that advocate technological autonomy, South-South cooperation, effective knowledge transfer, multilateral governance, orbital sustainability, algorithmic sovereignty, and a clear separation between civilian and military uses. By proposing institutional instruments, common funds, risk assessments, and shared infrastructures, the Charter guides BRICS+ countries to transform space capabilities into collective power, reducing structural dependencies and promoting a more equitable, ethical space regime aligned with long-term development.