TRL Scale Limits for Policy for Research and Innovation in the Military Field (original) (raw)

Is the European Goal for Defence Research and Technology Expenditure Attainable for Small Countries?

Security and Defence Quarterly

EU Defence Ministers have adopted a joint Strategy on Defence Research & Technology (R&T) that includes a 2 % goal for defence R&T expenditure. Th is paper discusses the feasibility of such a goal for a small country, including the motivations for undertaking defence R&T work in small countries, and asks are they diff erent from the large countries? New and improved weapons systems that create a technological advantage in the battlefi eld are grounded on research in technology. However, as capability models demonstrate, there are also other aspects of military capability than the materiel which can therefore be a topic for research. Th rough reviewing a selection of strategy documents from large and small European countries, the fact that only large countries have fi nancial possibilities for major weapons system development and production is highlighted, while in small countries, this link from R&T through development to production and operation is broken. Both defence research and defence industrial base fi gures support this view. Small countries may still have a number of other reasons to engage in R&T in either technology or other areas, but these appear not to be able to suffi ciently motivate R&T expenditure even close to the 2% level.

Technology and military criteria: broadening the theory of innovation

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 1987

The assessment and forecasting of technological innovation should include an evaluation of both civilian and military criteria. While the underlying economic causes of technological innovation generate considerable interest, these evaluations only rarely pay adequate attention to military factors. Spinoffs from military work to the private sector often circumvent the market constraints on technological development, suggesting the limitations of purely economic analysis. Military resources provide the greatest support to civilian technologies that are concurrent with military interests. Likely areas of military-civilian synergism can be identified through the evaluation of military interest. This includes rapid mobilization of large forces of personnel and materials. Among the areas of concentrated interest are the centralization of command and control, and its support requirements of transportation, communication, standardization, and subordination. Also, the nature of violent conflict and the organization of large military forces frequently argues for the removal of human intervention through technology. The corresponding civilian interests include business criteria for obtaining economies of scale, expanding revenues, and reducing labor cost through labor productivity. This paper explores the possibility of broadening the economic theories of technological change by incorporating military influence. The theory presented views military and civilian technology as encompassing both unique and overlapping design criteria. The overlapping region detines technological criteria likely to experience faster than average development. Specific military criteria are derived from the functional requirements of violent conflict-military strategy. tactics, and organization. Compatible and incompatible civilian criteria can then be explored. BRADLEY T. SHAW is a Project Manager with Technology Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a mechanical engineer by training with a Master of Science degree in Science, Technology and Values from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. and has worked as a contractor for the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. The author alone is responsible for the view presented here.

Defense R&D and information technology in a long-term perspective la rd militaire et les technologies de l'information en longue période Abstract : Defense R&D is usually considered as an economic burden, implying an eviction effect on civilian R&D and perverting the national systems of innovatio...

1999

Defense R&D is usually considered as an economic burden, implying an eviction effect on civilian R&D and perverting the national systems of innovation. If arms production benefits nowadays from advanced civilian R&D, the flow of technology was not always in the same direction-especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, since the beginning of the 1990s, some technologies, classified for a long time as purely defense ones (GaAs, GPS, computer networking, etc.), have found new civilian applications.

DEFENCE INNOVATION : NEW MODELS AND PROCUREMENT IMPLICATIONS The Spanish Case

2020

This short article describes the innovation and procurement policy of the Spanish Ministry of Defence. It addresses key issues such as the role of innovation in defence; the current organisation, norms, and regulations that implement this policy and the assessment of its repercussion on the Spanish Defence Industrial Base. The expected impact of the European Defence Fund on this policy is also assessed. The article ends up with some brief conclusions.

Technology and Policy: System Acquisition in a Complex Operational Environment

Industrial and Systems Engineering Review, 2022

The United States’ (US) ability to maintain a technological edge in the current operational environment is challenged by the increased ability of near-peer nations to produce military technology. In response to this problem, the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) seeks to model the three key elements of military system acquisition—context, product, and process—to develop a more comprehensive understanding regarding how and why nations acquire technical solutions. Through the application of the System Dynamics Modeling Process (SDMP), this research examines the interactions between the strategic context of Germany, the military products it acquires to address its operational needs, and the processes it employs to acquire military technology. The results of this research indicate that numerous dynamic variables of context impact the acquisitions process for Germany, particularly political support and subsequent monetary allocations to research and development.

STRATEGIC VALUE OF NATO's INVESTMENT ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION (STI): MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE AS INTANGIBLE ASSETS

JoDRM , 2018

This paper discusses the defence Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) investment within NATO. As a complex process it involves multiple stakeholders with common interest in development of knowledge through R&D activities, connecting current and future military capabilities. The objective is to generate and provide evidence-based scientific advice to decision-makers and deliver advanced solutions to national and NATO challenges. This process can generate valuable intangible assets for the Alliance in form of information and knowledge-based capital. The challenge for NATO is to manage and exploit the advantages of collective defence STI on behalf of its 29 members. The article approaches defence STI policies in comparison with power of politics and national as well as industrial interests. The attempt to quantify scientific knowledge as added value with significant return on investment unfolds the dynamics and vulnerabilities within NATO’s corporate culture. Although complexity is t...

German Government Department's experience of RT & D programme evaluation and methodology

Scientometrics, 1995

In Germany the interest in the evaluation of RT & D programmes has increased markedly in the recent past; not least because of cutbacks in public budgets, which put considerable pressure on prioritising and posterioritising of financially effective state intervention. The paper reports on a comprehensive analysis of evaluation practice up till now in the field of RT & D programmes in Germany: within the framework of a "Metaevaluation", the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFI') had over 50 evaluation studies, which it had commissioned since 1985, documented and critically analysed. On the basis of this analysis and its recommendations, a rough outline for a systematised future evaluation practice has been developed and discussed. Reflections on the basic meaning of evaluation, then which basic functions evaluation studies can fulfil during planning and implementation of RT & D policy measures for government departments, for policy-makers and for the public, were considered. In order to achieve a minimum of compatibility for evaluation activities in the future, a "Basic Pack" of standards for the implementation of evaluation studies was developed (as regards evaluation planning, choice of evaluators, content/scope/range, methods and indicators, editing and utilising the results), and more ambitious possibilities for use were discussed (e.g. combination of technology foresight and ex ante policy analyses). Trends in the evaluation of research and technology policy in Germany Research, technology and development policy (RT & D policy) is faced with a fourfold challenge at the end of the 20th century: firstly, it must provide suitable objectives and instruments for the modernisation of the innovation system facing growing environmental, economic and social problems; secondly, RT & D policy has to take into account the changed nature of technological innovation processes, i.e. the growing importance of the "science base", of inter-and transdisciplinary research and of the "fusion" of heterogeneous technology lines; thirdly, RT & D policy should coordinate its interventions with the more and more actors involved (various national government departments, regional and European authorities); and fourthly, RT & D policy must do this in the foreseeable future with very limited public funds-in other

European procurement schemes and the European Defence Fund (EDF): how should academic research develop?

Journal of European Integration

Because of the recent deterioration of security and stability in the world, disruption of supply chains due to COVID-19, paying attention to national security and defence industries became of supreme importance for the stable development of European defence and security within both the Allied and the European frameworks. This article addresses the current trends in European security cooperation, with a narrower focus on national military-industrial complexes and defence industrial cooperation in the European Union (EU). The article analyses a few academic books on the subject and a wider academic/professional debate in order to illustrate which aspects of coverage are beneficial, which are missing with respect to the objectives of the European Defence Fund (EDF) and which spheres need to be developed further. The primary suggestion is to increase interdisciplinarity and the empirical/military capabilities side of defence research designs. In this way, a more significant impact and participation in policy shaping and capabilities development can be achieved.