Geopolitics of the Datasphere (GEODE) is a research and training center in humanities and social sciences at the University of Paris 8 dedicated to the study of the impact of digital transformation on the strategic environment. Located on the Condorcet Campus, GEODE has been selected for a “Center of Excellence for International Relations and Strategy” label by the French Ministry of the Army.

The emerging notion of Datasphere allows the study of strategic issues related to cyberspace but also to the geography of data flows and data control, the understanding of informational space, the mapping of topological networks, the fusion of geolocalized and non-spatialized data.

The main approach is the geopolitical approach, i.e. the analysis of power rivalries on territories and conflicts with strategic and operational dimensions. This intrinsically multidisciplinary approach in human and social sciences is open to data sciences and computer science. The center gathers around the team of the French Institute of Geopolitics other researchers from the University of Paris 8, the University of Savoie, INRIA, INALCO, the Military Schools of Saint-Cyr-Coëtquidan, the ENS, and the University of Paris.

The scientific ambition is twofold.

On the one hand, to use the resources of the datasphere for geopolitical analysis, i.e. to develop tools to collect, process, and exploit the large masses of data relating to the datasphere, and to propose the development of new methods for mapping physical spaces based on the fusion of spatialized and non-spatialized data.

And on the other hand to study the datasphere as a geopolitical object in its own right, with an analysis of the defense and security issues that they cover, in order to feed a comprehensive strategic reflection that takes into account the strong entanglement of civil, industrial, and military issues. This objective includes the development of a specific cartography to better understand and represent the datasphere.