Civil–Military Patents and Technological Knowledge Flows Into the Leading Defense Firms

• Author: M. Rosario Marín,Esther Ferrándiz,Manuel Acosta,Pedro J. Moreno,Daniel Coronado
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X18823823
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Civil–Military Patents and

Technological Knowledge

Flows Into the Leading

Defense Firms

Manuel Acosta

1

, Daniel Coronado

1

, Esther Ferra

´ndiz

1

,

M. Rosario Marı

´n

1

and Pedro J. Moreno

1

Abstract

Drawing upon 106,181 patent applications by the world’s largest defense firms and

241,571 patent citations (2002–2011), this article has two main objectives. The first

is to explore the factors affecting the production of mixed patents (those with

potential dual applications in both military and civilian spheres). The second is to

identify the causes of the use of military knowledge for civilian inventions (spin-off)

and the use of civilian knowledge in military patented technologies (spin-in). Our

calculations show highly significant coefficients for the variables capturing the

“military technological capability” and the size of the company in explaining the

production of mixed technologies. The spin-off process is affected by the military

technological capability, the size of the firm, and the location. The spin-in mechanism

is explained by the military technological capability and the location of the firm, while

the size of the company is not relevant.

Keywords

dual use, mixed technologies, military patents, defense industry, patent citations,

spin-off, spin-in

1

Department of Economics, Facultad de Ciencias Econo

´micas y Empresariales, University of Ca

´diz, Ca

´diz,

Spain

Corresponding Author:

Daniel Coronado, Department of Economics, Facultad de Ciencias Econo

´micas y Empresariales,

University of Ca

´diz, C/ Enrique Villegas Ve

´lez, 2, 11002 Ca

´diz, Spain.

Email: daniel.coronado@uca.es

Armed Forces & Society

2020, Vol. 46(3) 454-474

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X18823823

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The main purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion on the relationship

between military and civilian technologies in two ways. First, it explores the factors

affecting the capacity of the leading defense firms to generate dual-use technological

products. Second, it identifies the causes prompting their ability to incorporate

military technological knowledge into civilian inventions (spin-off) and the inflow

of civilian knowledge in military patented technology (spin-in).

1

The extent to which military knowledge is used to support civilian technologies

offers new insights into the application of military knowledge in civilian markets.

The underlying relevance of the analysis of the spin-off process relies on the fact that

many advanced technologies that were initially designed with offensive or defensive

purposes might be available for civilian and commercial purposes. Similarly, the

application of civilian knowled ge to develop military invention s provides some

clues about the role of the spin-in process. Our final goal is to provide new perspec-

tives on the relationship between military and civilian technologies that might con-

tribute to the debate on new dual-use policies and provide a better organization of the

innovation systems.

Our data consist of both econo mic information on the leadin g defense firms

provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and their

production of patented technology from the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database

(PATSTAT). We first analyze the production of mixed technologies. In a second

step, we identify the inflows of military knowledge into civilian technologies (spin-

off) and civilian knowledge into military technology (spin-in) by using backward

patent citations.

The article contributes to the literature in three ways. First, it analyzes the extent

to which civilian and military technologies that are related to each other could

provide new clues on innovation policies. As stated by Mowery (2012), despite the

fact that defense-related research and development (R&D) investments have influ-

enced innovation in the broader civilian economy of several organization for eco-

nomic cooperation and development nations, the scope and nature of this influence

remains uncertain. Second, this is one of the few quantitative studies that offer a new

perspective from the output side (patents) to identify technologies with dual poten-

tial applications. The use of patents will enable us to clarify what firms are involved

in dual-use technologies and to what extent. Third, to the best of our knowledge,

only Acosta et al. (2011, 2013) offer a glimpse into the military–civilian flows of

technology from a quantitative view.

The remainder of this article is organized as follows. In Background Literature

section, we discuss the literature relevant to this article. In Metho d section, we

explain the methodology based on the information contained in patents to measure

the production and inflows of technological knowledge. In Data section, we present

the data. In The Production of Mixed Patents by Top Defense Firms section, we

address the production of mixed technologies. In Inflows of Knowledge From Mil-

itary Into Civilian Technologies (Spin-Off) and From Civilian Into Military Patents

(Spin-In) section, we identify the inflows of knowledge from military into civilian

Acosta et al. 455