(Bloomberg) — The European Union should consider creating a dedicated fund to boost the development of technologies that can serve both military and civil purposes, as part of its effort to ensure the bloc’s economic security.

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A draft document, seen by Bloomberg, is one element of an economic security package to be unveiled next week. It’s part of a broader plan that focuses on critical technologies such as chips, AI, quantum computing and biotech — and the know-how and investments relating to them. The aims include ensuring they don’t end up in the wrong hands.

A new instrument with its own budget and rules is one of three options set out in the paper, two of which would require a change in the legal bases of programs that are currently focused primarily on civil R&D. Another option presents what more could be done through existing mechanisms and schemes.

The EU wants to support the technologies’ development and mitigate the bloc’s reliance on supplies from nations such as China as well as the protectionist tendencies of others, while defending itself from economic security risks.

The strategy, which also includes developing partnerships with like-minded countries and organizations, is central to the EU’s attempts to “de-risk” from China, stop countries like Russia from getting hold of components used in today’s weapons or in future ones, as well as ramp up domestic industry as even allies like the US turn inwards.

One of the options to enhance R&D would remove spending limitations from parts of the Horizon funding program for research and innovation, and its current exclusive focus on civil applications. This approach would include clear parameters and criteria, as well as set out how the program interacts with European defense funds.

Public Consultation

The aim of the options and the white paper is to act as a basis for a public consultation on the matter.

The document also suggests better defining the criteria and scope of when a technology is considered dual use, to include its potential transformative nature, possible harmful effects, the transferability between civil and defense uses and its original purpose.

Other elements of the package include an overall communication, a review of the foreign direct investment regulation, a paper on export controls and an initiative on outbound investments.

–With assistance from Jorge Valero and Kevin Whitelaw.

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