Sources of strength: mapping the defence sector in Europe

ABSTRACT

The European Union defence sector is not only crucial for the EU’s security, but it is also a major industrial asset for EU member states, as it may foster innovation and greater integration among member states, as well as facilitate technology transfer. The understanding of and inferences about the sector, however, are laborious since data on the defence industry in Europe is often contradictory and confused and it is mostly compared at the national not at the European level. As a contribution to address such shortcomings and as opening piece for this Special Issue, this article focuses on the finding, collecting, cleaning, and organizing data on the geographical concentration/location of EU defence industries. This is a fully original descriptive analysis of the current situation, and it provides a reliable basis on the concentration/location of defence companies. This paper represents a firm basis from which to explore (in future research) how defence companies contribute to the technological integration of the EU and it should help the reader to better understand the following articles in this Special Issue.

KEYWORDS:

• Defence industry
• European defence
• defence technologies
• mapping innovation
• European integration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The European Parliament, “Fact Sheet on the European Union: Defence Industry,” https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/65/defence-industry (accessed March 17, 2023).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Investment Bank EIB University Research Sponsorship Programme [EIBURS Joint Effort for the Defence Industry (JEDI].

Notes on contributors

Giampiero Giacomello

Giampiero Giacomello is Associate Professor of Political Science with the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy, where he teaches cybersecurity and strategic studies and heads the Department’s Computational Social Science Center (CSSC). Previously he held visiting research and teaching positions at several American and European universities. His research interests include cybersecurity, social computing and simulation methods. He has authored and co-edited thirteen volumes and published several articles in Safety Science, Defence Economics, International Spectator, European Political Science, International Studies Review, European Security, International Political Science Review and others.

Oltion Preka

Oltion Preka is Adjunct Professor of Big Data for the Social Sciences with the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy, where he also teaches the class on “Data Journalism”. He is also a member of the Computational Social Science Center and has extensively published on Big Data education and Artificial Intelligence in the social sciences. Dr. Preka has over ten years experience of Python programming.