The Social Technology Network

In July 2004, a heterogeneous group of institutions, led by the Bank of Brazil Foundation and including several national ministries such as the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Social Development, together with semi-public companies such as Petrobras, met numerous representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social movements and universities to discuss policies for social and technological development. This meeting led to the creation of the Social Technology Network (STN; Rede de Tecnologia Social [RTS] in Portuguese), a hybrid experiment to promote grassroots innovation in Brazil and seeking to combine the participation and empowerment of civil society actors in technological development with the design of large-scale public policies for social development and poverty reduction.