Fundación Telefónica

General goal

• Ensuring Telefónica Foundation’s place as a forerunner in top research on the Information Society and the social impact of ICTs by creation, debate and diffusion of knowledge.

Strategic lines

• Analysis of the Information Society
• Digital society Technology as a transformational factor in the economic sectors.
• Knowledge. The creation of knowledge objects (books, debates, web page compilations etc.)
• Online presence. Being an active agent in the online environment, using its codes and adopting its culture.

With Debate and Knowledge we are seeking to create a study centre and space for reflection that is available to society, to analyse the social and economic implications introduced by technology, ICTs in particular, into all aspects of day-to-day life, giving us a glimpse of the principal future trends. In other words, to provide ideas and reflections that help us to understand the changes that are taking place in the world we live in.

In 2005 the Fundación Telefónica created the Debate and Knowledge section in order to make a key contribution to the process of change that Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) create, resulting in the Information Society, a state of development which can be characterised by the way in which its members are able to obtain and share information whenever, however and from whereever they wish.

Debate and Knowledge seeks to be a point of reference in this process, through the promotion of advanced research into the relationships between Technology, Society and the Future, by its analysis with the help of experts and researchers, the promotion of open debate with society and its widespread dissemination. The wide range of activities, undertaken either by the Foundation or in collaboration with the academic community, take place in all the countries in which the Fundación Telefónica is present.

• Creation of knowledge. Debate and Knowledge undertakes the promotion and monitoring of a number of specific research and study projects that examine topics and tendencies based on the Technology-Society-Future axis, with a special emphasis on ICTs. In order to do so, work focuses on the creation of a network of experts and intellectuals, as well as other specialists, affording added value to the reflections that emerge. The real current situation is also continuously analysed in order to select in advance the projects that might contribute most to the creation of public policy.
• Analysis and debates. In order to disseminate this knowledge on the latest trends and extend ICT training, the Debate and Knowledge section is committed to organising and promoting monthly events of which the following should be highlighted: congresses, seminars, sessions, conferences and debates, both live and online, domestic and international, concerning the subject areas being investigated.
• Dissemination of knowledge. The Debate and Knowledge Section also publishes numerous studies and investigations, by both Spanish and foreign authors, as well as papers and working papers in the academic and professional environment. All of these are published in the Fundación Telefónica Collection, jointly founded with the publisher Ariel (Grupo Planeta). Special mention should also be made of the Information Society Bulletin, as well as the magazine TELOS - Communication and Innovation Papers, a point of reference in the study of communications, ICTs and their impact on society. Finally, through Divulgatic, the Fundación Telefónica is committed to disseminating technology for everybody in a fun, accessible manner.

In September 2009, the Fundación Telefónica held its first The ICT Club, a competition of humorous monologues on the new technologies that seek to encourage users to explain in a funny way, using videos that they have made, just what is meant by new technologies and how it influences their lives. In the first year that this international competition has been held 1,000 people entered a total of 40 videos lasting between 3 and 5 minutes, which can be seen on the www.theticclub.com website.