Researchers from the Center for Education and Research in Innovation (CEPI) of FGV’s Sao Paulo Law School (Direito SP) participated in the workshop “Constituting Inclusion through Law & Regulation: What do we now know? And where do we go from here?”. The event took place in Brussels, at the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent, between September 5 and 7, and brought together researchers from different countries.

Led by professors Toni Williams, from Kent Law School, and Fabrício Polido, from University of Minas Gerais, the group devoted itself to an intense and interdisciplinary debate based on methodological and conceptual frameworks about the role of legal and regulatory instruments to address the multiple dimensions of practices aimed at inclusion (and exclusion) and their externalities.

In this movement, it became central not only to look at the cases from the perspective of who wins and who loses in social dynamics, in their relationship with the legal and regulatory system of each country and each region, but also to address how inclusion policies can/should be designed and implemented with regard to human rights and political and economic systems.

The operation and the impacts of legal and socio-technical imaginaries permeated all of the work. The discussed topics included public policies and social dynamics in the cities; the challenges of social movements; security and development narratives; traditional knowledge; digitalization, digital financial inclusion and the role of emerging technologies.

CEPI researchers Ana Paula Camelo and Vitor Ido presented works that converse directly with the Center’s research: respectively, “Expression and Advocacy in Brazil through Emerging Technologies” and “Traditional Knowledge Protection in Brazil: the strategic role of local communities”. In her paper, Camelo explored some recent cases in Brazil that show how different groups use legal tools and technologies to transform the way they are viewed by society, how the law has been challenged to deal with new issues and the demands of these groups, and how technology participates in this process.

Ido presented some cases to discuss not only how indigenous groups use legal and technological tools, but also how they transform these same instruments according to their needs and demands, working together with lawyers, anthropologists, environmental NGOs, governments and even companies, which raises questions about identity issues in the advocacy process as a whole.

The “Inclusionary Practices Workshop” is the result of a three-year collaborative research project called “Collaborative Research Project – Inclusionary Practices, Law and Regulation in Europe and Latin America”, led by the University of Kent and UFMG.