Search on Ifri.org

About Ifri

Frequent searches

Suggestions

Technology

Description

Technologies, particularly digital and space technologies, raise political, strategic and economic issues that are profoundly transforming the dynamics of international competition and cooperation.

Related Subjects

Image Taxonomie
Humanoid using holographic futuristic touch screen.
See all
Publications
Logo
forbes_logo.jpg
Image principale médiatique

Round Up Of New Reports On OpenRAN Security

26 October 2022
Accroche

Following assertions of OpenRAN solutions offering costs cuts and shortcuts to 5G and even claims of superior security, a series of reports from governments, scientific labs, security expert and think tanks investigate the technology. They showcase perspectives from the United State, the European Union, and emerging countries.

Logo
the_indian_express.png

Delhi to Paris: A strategic partnership

07 May 2022
Accroche

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France on May 4 is his fifth since 2015, and the 10th such high-level bilateral visit. 

Logo
logo_silicon_republic.jpg
Image principale médiatique

Meet the woman researching the geopolitics of technology

30 March 2022
Accroche

Alice Pannier is leading a new programme looking at the relationship between technology and geopolitical alliances. Recent events have proven this to be more important than ever.

Logo
planete_energies.jpg

Technology at the Center of Geopolitical Relations

03 January 2022
Accroche

Technologies from big data to quantum computing, artificial intelligence and next-generation drones are fueling power struggles between nations and large industrial companies. Alice Pannier, head of the Geopolitics of Technology program at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), talks us through the impact of these new technologies, which have added a further level of complexity to the major energy issues seen in the 20th century.

Image principale médiatique

Video replay - Space and Quantum Technologies: What Strategies and Industrial Models for Europe? 

20 November 2021
Accroche

Watch the video replay of the conference organized by Ifri's Geopolitics of Technology program on November 18, 2021. 

Logo
newlinesmagazine_logo.jpeg

Exclusive: Western Intelligence Fears New Russian Sat-Nav’s Espionage Capabilities

12 July 2021
Accroche

GLONASS, Moscow’s answer to GPS, is set to launch an upgraded satellite network later this year, which it hopes to sell to the U.S. and Europe. Buyer beware.

Logo
ny_times_logo.jpg
Image principale médiatique

E.U.’s Top Drug Regulator Says It’s ‘Fully Functional’ After Cyberattack

10 December 2020
Accroche

The European Union’s top drug regulator, whose approval is necessary for countries of the bloc to begin rolling out the coronavirus vaccine, has begun an investigation after it was hit by a cyberattack, the head of the agency said on Thursday.

Image principale médiatique

Contact tracing and Internet governance: debate with Audrey Tang, Digital Minister of Taiwan

30 November 2020
Accroche

Audrey Tang, Digital Minister of Taiwan, discussed the impact of technological changes such as 5G, contact tracing and Internet governance in an online debate.

Image principale médiatique

Geopolitics of technologies : Ifri launches a new research program

10 November 2020
Accroche

Ifri is launching a permanent research program on the geopolitics of technologies. Researcher Alice Pannier will lead the program, which will address issues through four angles: power, sovereignty, governance, society.

Japan's cyber diplomacy: cooperation with the EU and challenges ahead

18 September 2020
Accroche

In this interview, Dai Mochinaga, senior researcher at Keio Research Institute looks at Japan's cyber diplomacy and challenges for global cybersecurity and data governance.

Image principale

Balancing Security and Openness for Critical Technologies: Challenges for French and European Research

Date de publication
11 October 2023
Accroche

While matters related to research security and international partnerships in critical domains are certainly not new, they have become increasingly central to governments, research institutions and industry since the turn of the 2020s.

Image principale

How to Curb Investments in Chinese Technology: Initiatives and Debates in the United States

Date de publication
31 August 2023
Accroche

In a continuation of U.S. efforts to slow China's development and acquisition of strategic technologies, Washington has imposed new restrictions on American investment in Chinese technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, and semiconductors.

Image principale

China in the Race to Low Earth Orbit: Perspectives on the Future Internet Constellation Guowang

Date de publication
27 April 2023
Accroche

In April 2021, the Chinese government officially, but rather quietly, established a new state-owned enterprise (SOE) named China SatNet. Its mission: build out China’s “mega-constellation” program for low Earth orbiting internet satellites, known as Guowang (“national network”).

Image principale

The Technology Policies of Digital Middle Powers

Date de publication
24 February 2023
Accroche

Digital technology is an element of power in the international system as well as an area for competition among countries. The study provides a qualitative comparison of the technology policies of nine of the digital middle powers: Brazil, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. It seeks to reflect the diversity of national technology policies, as well as to identify those countries’ convergences and divergences with Europe, the United States and China. 

Image principale

Digital Sovereignty: European Policies, American Dilemmas

Date de publication
31 January 2023
Accroche

European digital sovereignty has been made a priority by Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission. Due to the privileged position of American companies in the European market, Brussels’ efforts towards digital sovereignty (on privacy, antitrust, data sovereignty, etc.) are closely scrutinized by American policymakers. 

Image principale

Software Power: The Economic and Geopolitical Implications of Open Source Software

Date de publication
12 December 2022
Accroche

Open source is at the heart of the Internet infrastructure, of the software used by individuals or governments, and of the innovation processes of tech companies. Faced with threats to the security and sustainability of the open source model, governments are getting a hold of the topic, which is becoming increasingly geopolitical.

Image principale

Neither Surveillance nor Algorithm-driven Consumerism. Toward an Alternative European Model for Smart Cities

Date de publication
16 November 2022
Accroche

Numerous smart city projects are emerging, guided by objectives of efficiency and improvement of public policies. All of them are based on intensive use of data and digital tools, but their concrete achievements take various forms. Some models are being exported and are becoming levers of influence, while Europe is still looking for its own path.

Image principale

“Open” Telecom Networks (Open RAN): Towards a Reconfiguration of International Competition in 5G?

Date de publication
12 October 2022
Accroche

In line with the anti-Huawei diplomatic campaign of the Trump and Biden administrations, the United States has promoted an alternative: Open RAN, a concept defined by "open" network architectures. At the intersection of 5G geopolitics and standards, what risks and opportunities does Open RAN present for European technological sovereignty?

Image principale

Critical technologies and industrial capabilities: National definitions and implications. The French case.

Date de publication
01 September 2022
Accroche

France  has  historically  paid  significant  attention  to  strategic  technologies  and  industries,  whether they were strictly defence- and nuclear deterrence related, or considered as vectors of national independence and security, more broadly.

Image principale

Fishing for Chips: Assessing the EU Chips Act

Date de publication
08 July 2022
Accroche

China, the United States, and the European Union (EU) are currently developing strategies for semiconductors aimed at financing R&D and the installation of new factories on their territories, in particular through subsidies. The EU Chips Act, announced in February 2022, represents a real break in Europe's industrial policy.

Support independent French research

Ifri, a foundation recognized as being of public utility, relies largely on private donors – companies and individuals – to guarantee its sustainability and intellectual independence. Through their funding, donors help maintain the Institute's position among the world's leading think tanks. By benefiting from an internationally recognized network and expertise, donors refine their understanding of geopolitical risk and its consequences on global politics and the economy. In 2024, Ifri will support more than 70 French and foreign companies and organizations.

Ramses Conference, 2024
Related centers and programs
Image principale
Russian spaceship in orbit of planet Earth, View from the ISS station
Space Program
Accroche centre

Space has become a crucial theme in the main international think tanks’ research activities as it entails important strategic, economic, and technological issues.

Since 2001, Ifri has integrated space in its research, notably by ensuring that the political dimension of scientific and human exploration programs is emphasized, and by supporting reflections on the Code of Conduct for Outter Space Activities.

Today, as part of its research agenda, Ifri mobilizes several of its centers and programs to transversally tackle the theme of space, through three main inputs:

  • the competition of powers, driven by the Sino-American rivalry;
  • critical points related to mastery of space, such as the issue of autonomous access to space or the mega-constellations necessary for the digital revolution;
  • these developments’ challenges for Europe and its status as a space power.

Since the Summer 2020, Ifri has been coordinating a tripartite European Space Governance Initiative, together with two other renowned European think tanks: the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (DGAP) in Germany and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Italy.

View more
Image principale
Authentic Modern High Tech Robot Weapon
Center for Geopolitics of Technology
Accroche centre

Artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, cybersecurity, robotics, semiconductors, space... Technology, especially in the digital domain, is now deeply affecting all human activities and, by extension, international relations. The resulting political, strategic, economic and social issues manifest themselves at multiple political scales involving states, international organizations and private companies. The dynamics of international competition and cooperation are transformed.

It is to respond to these challenges that Ifri is launching the Geopolitics of Technology program in the fall of 2020, which builds on the work it already carried out on these subjects for several years.

The program takes a resolutely European approach to international issues related to so-called critical technologies. Its work is organized around four cross-cutting themes:

  • Power: redistributions of power caused by new technologies, in particular digital; military and dual innovations; transformations of international competition;
  • Sovereignty: definition of critical infrastructures and technologies; industrial and innovation policies in strategic sectors; opportunities and risks associated with international value chains;
  • Governance: ethical and legal issues; interactions between companies, states, international organizations and users; public-private partnerships and GovTech;
  • Society: political and social impacts of technological innovations; risks and opportunities for the future of work, health, the fight against climate change; connectivity and economic development.
Page image credits
Humanoid using holographic futuristic touch screen
(c) Shutterstock