Technological Sovereignty as Ability, Not Autarky

41 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2021

See all articles by Christoph March

Christoph March

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research; University of Bamberg

Ina Schieferdecker

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

Aspirations towards technological sovereignty increasingly pervade the political debate. Yet, an ambiguous definition leaves the exact goal of those aspirations and the policies to fulfill them unclear. This leaves room for partly particularly negative interpretations, such as equating the concept with a strive for autarky, nationalism, and the roll-back of globalization. We develop a competence-based definition of technological sovereignty, which puts innovation policy at the core of fulfilling sovereignty aspirations. Moreover, we show how our definition realigns technological sovereignty with international cooperation and trade. Two case studies illustrate how innovation policy might be used to achieve technological sovereignty.

JEL Classification: O320, O330, O380

Suggested Citation

March, Christoph and Schieferdecker, Ina, Technological Sovereignty as Ability, Not Autarky (2021). CESifo Working Paper No. 9139, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3872378 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3872378

Christoph March (Contact Author)

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( email )

Hannoversche Straße 28 - 30
Berlin, 10115
Germany

University of Bamberg ( email )

Kirschaeckerstrasse 39
Bamberg, 96045
Germany

Ina Schieferdecker

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( email )

Hannoversche Straße 28 - 30
Berlin, 10115
Germany

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
151
Abstract Views
495
Rank
320,318
PlumX Metrics