Defense R&D and national R&D systems: a European outlook

Eleven years ago, Mowery studied the role of defense-related R&D in the U.S. national system of innovation. The aim of this article is similar but is based on the European countries that signed the Letter of Intent, with a special focus on France. We first highlight the role of defense in the national system of R&D for these countries and then detail the case for the French Ministry of Defense. The article presents information provided by the OECD science and technology database and the French statistical survey on R&D based on the OECD methodology. In terms of funding as well as in terms of performance, the organization of research efforts is quite different from one European country to another. The detailed analysis of the French case shows an approximate stability in terms of funding after the gap of the late 1990s, but also a switch from R&D that is performed in-house to contracts with the industrial sector. This comparative exercise about Europe provides insights on the specificities of national systems of innovation and their evolution.