Imagine drones that map disaster zones today and scouns military destinations tomorrow. Or seismic activity sensors that were built for construction work, recognize the U boats under water. These ideas represent the promise of double use technologies that serve both civil and military purposes. For the first time, the European Commission expressly proposes to finance them through programs such as Horizon Europe. But while we are working for two use technologies, we are faced with a crucial choice: Do you continue the old model, in which military applications drive innovations that the civilians later accept or turn this paradigm upside down?
The technological innovation has long followed a well -tried path: military development drives up the development of civil applications as a subsequent thought. Consider GPS, probably one of the most successful double use technologies in history. It was originally developed in the 1970s by the US Department of Defense and developed for military positioning and navigation. Civil access was restricted by “selective availability” – a feature that intentionally deteriorated the accuracy in order to preserve the advantage of the military.
The full potential of GPS was not realized until the deactivation of the selective availability in 2000 decades and immediately made it ten times more precise for civilian users. It quickly became a technology that most of us rely on every day and triggered innovations that converted industries into transport from agriculture. A 2019 study from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (Nist) An estimated that the GPS generated 1.4 trillion dollars of economic advantages.
As we have seen at GPS, this military approach has dominated innovation financing for decades. However, there is mandatory evidence that the approaches to civilian initial approaches to two use technologies better and ultimately more robust solutions for all applications generate more military.
The traditional model overlooks a critical reality: civil markets offer both scale and diversity of applications that drive innovation in a way that the more specialized military sector cannot keep up. This pattern is repeated across technological areas. Internet protocols developed for military communication found their greatest development in civil applications before returning to improve military systems. The commercial drone industry accelerated the air innovation in the air, far beyond what could only achieve military procurement.
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By concentrating on civilian application cases, innovation can use larger markets, more diverse applications and faster development cycles. If technologies are developed taking into account broad civilian applications, you benefit from scale effects that only military development cannot achieve.
This is partly due to the fact that civil innovation is exposed to fewer bureaucratic restrictions. Military procurement cycles can include years or even decades, while civilian markets reward agility and fast iteration. Due to the development of civilians, the technologies can develop and mature faster than would be possible with traditional procurement time plans for defense.
The most promising breakthroughs duplicate uses more from coping with basic technical challenges than from specific operating functions. When innovators concentrate closely on military operations, they often miss the wider potential of their technologies. Scientific potential is not abstract; It only becomes real by implementing.
The challenge of developing robust navigation systems that work without GPS is a perfect example. A solution with which delivery drones to reliably navigate urban environments, revolutionize logistics and at the same time provide the skills that are decisive for defense operations. By highlighting civilian applications and at the same time recognizing potential military uses, we create space for innovations that could otherwise never appear.
Research From the European Commission for the introduction of a military tech aspect in the successor to the Horizon Europe, it found that academic and research institutions would prefer to adhere to the status quo and to keep F&E financing in Europe exclusively in civilian technologies. By providing financing routes that respect these preferences, we expand the talent pool and provide critical technological challenges. In view of the financial tribes and political pressure in the US high school formation, Europe could attract top innovators from the entire Atlantic by creating an environment that matches its basic values.
Since Europe is intensifying its focus on strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty, two use technologies will play an increasingly important role. The latest steps of the EU to enable an important shift in our innovation through programs such as Horizon Europe to enable double usage financing. However, since these initiatives take shape, you have to avoid simply replicated the traditional military model.
By priorizing and recognizing civilian applications, we can use market forces, attract various talents and produce more robust technologies for all applications.
In order for double development to be really durable, civil and military technologies can no longer be searched-we have to bridge the gap between the civilians of the first F&E and the military applications. In view of the gap that exists between the way these two sectors work, this must be an active process. The initiation of more open exchange of knowledge would better use insights and knowledge from both worlds. For bodies that focus on military technology, it is time to incubate a civilian equivalent. Conversely, organizations such as Mine – Sprind, the German Federal Authority for Disruptive Innovations – should concentrate on civilian technology, and also investigate military applications.
The challenges that we stand – from climate change and energy safety to the resilience of the supply chain – require technological solutions that serve several purposes. The old dichotomy between civil and military innovation is increasingly out of date in a world in which the most powerful technologies inevitably serve both domains. The transformative double usage technologies of tomorrow are closer than we think, what do we think about today on civil applications.
