Clarifying and optimising civil, dual-use and defence research and innovation in future EU funding programmes

In an input note published on 26 March, CESAER puts forward concrete proposals to clarify and optimise the positioning of civil, dual-use, and defence research and innovation in future EU funding programmes.
26th March 2026
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In an input note published today, the over 50 leading universities of science and technology united within CESAER, provide guidance based on decades of shared experience on how to effectively and ethically engage with dual-use research and innovation, from civil-focused environments to defence-relevant contexts.

"Europe needs clear and workable funding frameworks for civil, dual-use, and defence research. By combining legal clarity with strategic flexibility, EU funding programmes can support excellence in research and innovation, and provide institutions with predictable rules and pathways for responsible research."

Orla Feely, President of CESAER and President of University College Dublin

"A key point is that while dual-use is a legal compliance category in the context of export control, the concept of dual-use can also be seen as a strategic pathway to support researchers to navigate the civil-to-defence continuum responsibly, preserving exploratory and collaborative research while ensuring governance and safeguards appropriately scale along a spectrum from low to high defence-relevance."

Irna van der Molen, Co-Chair of Task Force Openness of Science and Technology and Senior Policy Officer Knowledge Security at University of Twente

"Trying to address dual-use ambiguity by creating ever more labels—‘by design’, ‘by default’, ‘by application’—misses the point. In practice, research and innovation pathways evolve dynamically, and effective dual-use governance must adapt to these realities."

Peter Ertl, Co-Chair of CESAER Workgroup Dual-Use, Defence and Space and Vice Rector for Research, Innovation and International Affairs at TU Wien

For more information, please contact Advisor for Research Vincent Klein Ikkink.

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