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Technology

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

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Digital Transformation of the Industry: The Franco-German Challenge

Date de publication
07 December 2018
Accroche

The issue of the digital transformation of the industry provoked in France as in Germany the return of the state and the introduction of a subsidiary industrial policy. Feeling threatened in its industrial leadership, Germany mobilized its resources through industry 4.0 by building a vision around the concept of “cyber-physical system” before developing in each Land an accompanying offer. France has forged the concept of the industry of the future by following a logic of modernization of the production tool, reinforcing particularly the automation and building on the integration of new technological bricks.

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Intelligence artificielle : vers une nouvelle révolution militaire ?

Date de publication
16 October 2018
Accroche

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a priority defense issue for the military powers of the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, the United States and China are currently at the forefront of this new digitalized arms race. 

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Questions of Fact: India’s Aadhaar Matter and the Limits of the Supreme Court

Date de publication
04 October 2018
Accroche

In September 2018, the Supreme Court of India rendered its verdict in a landmark case with major implications for the Aadhaar biometric identification project as well as the application of right to privacy in India, but the Aadhaar Matter raises important questions about the shortcomings of the Supreme Court’s practice of judicial review.

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Europe Facing the Digitization of Work: The Political Risks

Date de publication
12 September 2018
Accroche

The nature of work has been remarkably transformed in a short period of time through the combined effect of globalization and technological disruptions. Ongoing technological breakthroughs, carried by increasingly digitalized and automated economic activities, and the “democratization” of artificial intelligence, heighten fears of massive job destructions and the deepening of social inequalities, to the detriment of downgraded and pauperized middle classes.

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The Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence: The Return of Empires?

Date de publication
07 September 2018
Accroche

Artificial intelligence (AI) is swiftly moving forward and becoming a real tool of power.

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Ramses2019

RAMSES 2019. The Clashes of the Future

Date de publication
05 September 2018
Accroche

RAMSES 2019. The Clashes of the Future, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of global geopolitics.

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Europe: Subject or Object in the Geopolitics of Data?

Date de publication
24 July 2018
Accroche

Data no longer should be understood as a sole commercial or regulatory issue, but rather as an actual stake of international politics. Mastering data is an issue involving different set of actors, with diverging motivations: it is a sovereignty and national security stake for states, a democratic stake for people (personal data), and a fundamental source of value creation for companies. 

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Opérations de déception. Repenser la ruse au XXIe siècle

Date de publication
25 June 2018
Accroche

Deception operations, which refer to manoeuver, economy of armed forces and surprise, need to be reintegrated at the center of strategy to respond efficiently to modern threats. 

 

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Macron, Diplomat: A New French Foreign Policy?

Date de publication
13 April 2018
Accroche

How can we define Emmanuel Macron’s foreign policy since he took office? After Nicolas Sarkozy’s brazen style of “gutsy diplomacy” and François Hollande’s “normal diplomacy”, the eighth president of the Fifth Republic seems to have opted for an agile classicism. In substance, he makes no claim to any radical break with the past, but sees his approach as being in line with historical tradition.

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Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector: a Comparative Analysis between Europe and the United States

Date de publication
12 February 2018
Accroche

The acceleration of the digitization of energy infrastructure has brought many economic benefits, including  greater efficiency in the rationalization of energy consumption. However, this has also increased the risk of cyberattacks, where malicious software is able to take advantage of the increasing digitization of energy equipment. 

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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
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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.

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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.
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