CLACSO

What CLACSO does

CLACSO (Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades) is a non-governmental international organization founded in 1967 and headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that operates as the largest network of social science research institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. It coordinates a membership-based ecosystem of hundreds of associated research centers (Centros Miembros) across more than 25 countries, providing a governance and collaboration framework via Directing Committee representation and thematic Working Groups (Grupos de Trabajo) organized in three-year cycles (currently 2026-2028). Its primary constituents are universities, research centers, and graduate students in the social sciences, humanities, and arts across the region.

CLACSO delivers its mission through a portfolio of interconnected digital platforms rather than a single product: Aula CLACSO and CLACSO Virtual serve as a learning management system for graduate programs (master's degrees, specializations, diplomas, virtual seminars) and open classes; the Biblioteca Virtual (a DSpace-based open-access repository) and the Librería Latinoamericana aggregate and distribute publications; CLACSO TV and CLACSO Radio provide multimedia distribution for conferences and academic content; CLACSO-Redalyc extends journal indexing; and the new Plataformas para el Diálogo Social (PDS) coordinates thematic collaboration across ten policy areas. It also runs biennial international conferences (#CLACSO2015, #CLACSO2018, #CLACSO2022, #CLACSO2025) and scholarship programs such as the CLACSO-CONACYT postgraduate fellowships.

CLACSO is a non-profit and does not publicly disclose pricing or detailed financials. Its revenue model is a mix of institutional membership contributions (from member centers), tuition from graduate programs delivered through partner universities, publication sales through the Librería Latinoamericana, and grant funding. Go-to-market is primarily institutional and academic rather than commercial: marketing and outreach run through the clacso.org website, InfoCLACSO email bulletins, social media (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube), and conference and working-group events. The organization is collectively governed by its member institutions, with an Executive Secretariat based in Buenos Aires, and has 83 employees.

Name

CLACSO

Legal name

Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades

Website

https://clacso.edu.ar

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CLACSO is a non-profit academic network founded in 1967 that coordinates social science research institutions across Latin America and the Caribbean through graduate programs, open-access publishing, working groups, and biennial conferences. It serves universities, research centers, and graduate students via its LMS, DSpace repository, and multimedia platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Ciudad de Buenos Aires

HQ country

Argentina

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CLACSO is a non-governmental international network organization that coordinates social science research and education across Latin America and the Caribbean. Its core offerings include virtual graduate programs (master's, specializations, and diplomas), open-access academic publishing through its digital repository and bookstore, international conferences, working groups for research collaboration, and scholarship programs such as CLACSO-CONACYT. The organization serves hundreds of member research centers and universities through digital platforms (Aula CLACSO, Biblioteca Virtual, CLACSO TV, CLACSO Radio) and in-person events.

Product overview

CLACSO (Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales) is a network organization of social science institutions rather than a unified software product. Its digital portfolio consists of interconnected platforms: CLACSO Virtual and Aula CLACSO serve as the primary online learning infrastructure offering degrees, diplomas, and courses; the Biblioteca Virtual CLACSO (DSpace repository) provides open-access to publications; CLACSO TV and CLACSO Radio deliver multimedia content; the Librería Latinoamericana handles publication distribution; and Plataformas para el Diálogo Social facilitates thematic collaboration. These platforms collectively support the organization's mission of advancing social science research, education, and public dialogue across Latin America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aula CLACSO

Quantifiable outcome

• Coordination of hundreds of member research centers across Latin America and the Caribbean
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de México)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO and CONACYT jointly operate the Programa de Becas de Posgrado CLACSO-CONACYT, providing scholarships and grants for postgraduate students in social sciences across Latin America. This is one of CLACSO's flagship scholarship programs supporting regional academic development.
• Fundación HuéspedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO and Fundación Huésped co-organize programs on comprehensive sexuality education (Educación Integral en Sexualidad, EIS) in Latin America and the Caribbean, combining CLACSO's academic network with Fundación Huésped's public health expertise.
• Member Centers (Centros Miembros) across Latin America and the CaribbeancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO coordinates a network of hundreds of associated research centers (Centros Miembros) that participate in working groups, conferences, publications, and educational programs. The network includes institutions such as Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad (Ecuador), Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos (Venezuela), Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Laboral y Agrario (Bolivia), and Instituto para la Investigación Educativa y el Desarrollo Pedagógico (Colombia), among many others across the region.
• CLAA (Colegio Latinoamericano de Académic@s)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO collaborates with CLAA (Colegio Latinoamericano de Académic@s) on joint activities related to academic freedom and critical scholarship in the Americas, including the event 'Libertad académica en las Américas: Tendencias, desafíos y horizontes críticos'.
• ALAS (Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO participates in ALAS 2026, the Latin American Sociology Association congress to be held in Río de Janeiro, Brasil from July 26–31, 2026, representing collaborative regional academic event participation.
• Redalyc (Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe)coreTechnology or IntegrationCLACSO partners with Redalyc through the CLACSO-Redalyc platform (clacso.redalyc.org), providing open-access indexing and dissemination services for CLACSO journals and academic publications across Latin America.
• LASA (Latin American Studies Association)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO participates in LASA activities and events, maintaining cross-regional collaboration with one of the largest associations dedicated to Latin American studies research globally.
• UNORTE-CLACSO (Escuela de Verano)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO partners with UNORTE (Universidad del Norte, Colombia) to co-host a Summer School (Escuela de Verano) titled 'Transformación Social: Agendas y Desafíos para América Latina y el Caribe' held July 14–16 in Colombia.
• FOS FeministaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLACSO collaborates with FOS Feminista on topics related to feminist research and gender studies, including joint discussions such as 'Repensar la objeción de conciencia en la atención de la salud'.
• Specialized partner libraries (UNGS, UNL, UDG, COLMEX, and 20+ others)coreTechnology or IntegrationCLACSO integrates content from over 20 partner university libraries into its libreria.clacso.org platform, including institutions such as UNGS, UNL (Universidad Nacional del Litoral), UDG (Universidad de Guadalajara), COLMEX (El Colegio de México), UNQ, and others, providing a federated open-access library network.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Redalyc: Redalyc is an open-access academic journal indexing service focused on Latin American social sciences. CLACSO partners with Redalyc through the clacso.redalyc.org platform, making it a direct functional peer in journal indexing and open-access dissemination.
• FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales): FLACSO is the other major LAC-wide social science academic network with postgraduate programs and research centers across Latin America. It is the closest functional peer to CLACSO, operating a parallel model of regional graduate education, research collaboration, and institutional coordination in social sciences.
• CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa): CODESRIA is the African equivalent of CLACSO — a pan-regional social science research council that coordinates member institutions, working groups, conferences, and publications. It shares the same network-governance, non-profit, and academic-publishing model adapted to a different region.
• ALAS (Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología): ALAS is the Latin American Sociology Association that organizes regional sociology congresses (e.g., ALAS 2026) and connects sociology departments across LAC. CLACSO and ALAS share overlapping membership and conference audiences in the regional social sciences.
• LASA (Latin American Studies Association): LASA is a major association for Latin American studies globally, organizing large academic congresses and publishing peer-reviewed research. CLACSO is already listed as a collaborating partner, and the two organizations compete and cooperate for the same researcher community in LAC.
• SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online): SciELO operates a regional open-access scholarly publishing infrastructure for Latin America and the Caribbean (with broader reach). It is directly comparable to CLACSO's open-access library and CLACSO-Redalyc platform, addressing the same academic discovery and dissemination needs for LAC researchers.

Broad incumbents

• UNESCO MOST Programme (Management of Social Transformations): UNESCO's MOST programme operates globally on social science research policy and knowledge dissemination, with overlap to CLACSO's mandate of strengthening social science research infrastructure. UNESCO is a much larger incumbent with similar themes but broader scope and global mandate.
• International Social Science Council (ISSC) / International Science Council: The ISSC / ISC is the global umbrella organization for the social sciences (now merged into the International Science Council). It shares CLACSO's mission of coordinating social science research at a supranational level and is a comparable incumbent on policy and research advocacy.

Others

• CLACSO–China Center / Centro de Estudios e Intercambio entre América Latina y el Caribe y China: While a CLACSO sub-program, the China-LAC academic exchange initiative is thematically comparable to other regional academic exchange bodies (e.g., EU-LAC academic cooperation programs). Listed as ecosystem/thematic adjacency.
• Observatorio Social del Coronavirus (CLACSO): Internal CLACSO observatory for pandemic-era social research. Listed only as ecosystem context — comparable to other university-anchored social observatories (e.g., Oxford's COVID-19 Government Response Tracker) that serve as thematic complements rather than direct competitors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCcAFzGJh_KTNwel7-gCpDVQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/CLACSO.Oficial
• Instagraminstagram.com/clacso_oficial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clacso

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CLACSO