Disruptive Technology and Defence Innovation Ecosystems

Recent advances in the disciplines of computer science (e.g., quantum theory, artificial intelligence), biotechnology and nanotechnology have deeply modified the structures of knowledge from which military capabilities are likely to develop. This book discusses the implications of disruptive technologies for the defence innovation ecosystem.

Two complementary dimensions of the defence innovation ecosystem are highlighted: the industrial and intra-organizational. On the industrial scale, there is a shift in the ecology of knowledge underpinning the defence industrial and technological base (DITB). At the intra-organizational level, it is the actors’ practices that change and, through them, their skills and the processes by which they are acquired and transferred. In this context, the sources and legitimacy of innovation are being transformed, in turn requiring sometimes radical adaptations on the part of the various actors, including companies, military services, research communities and governmental agencies, which make up the defence innovation ecosystem.