Research Policy 1995

Quandaries in the economics of dual technologies and spillovers from military to civilian research and development

Robin Cowan¹; Dominique Foray^2,3,4,5

¹ Western University · ² Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · ³ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis · ⁴ Université Paris Cité · ⁵ Université Paris Dauphine-PSL

Abstract

In this paper we argue that the ‘standard’ view of the relationship between military and civilian technology is too simple and cannot account for the variety of historical experiences. In order to understand this relationship, attention must be paid to two things: that technologies have a lifecycle, in different parts of which different types of learning are important; and that the relationship between military and civilian sectors will change depending on the nature of the technology involved, in particular whether it is a process or a product technology. In addition, the standard view does not pay heed to the fact that there are specific organizational requirements to realize any potential cross-benefits. We describe a framework with which to analyse the various features of the relationship taking into account these considerations.

DOI

10.1016/0048-7333(94)00802-7

Sources

semanticscholar openalex

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓