568 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 and for whom- may be taken, either by the market or by an agent responsible for economic planning. Effectiveness, accountability and transparency form the essential foundation of any institutional planning and management of public funds. In particular, the public defence sector, given its importance within Europe, both due to its economic bearing and the number of people it comprises, as well as the diverse range of goods and services that it entails, requires a planning and information system providing quality and accountability with a view to ensuring good governance. Therefore, the realities of national defence necessitate examination of the “economics of security and defence” to account for the costs it implicitly bears, as well as additional analysis of the efficiency of resource management and the major technological advances related to the defence industry. In light of the above, and bearing other factors in mind, companies with links to the public defence sector deserve to be considered a dynamic business sector and as agents of “R&D&I” in the context of the wider economy. That is to say, a major catalyst for business innovation activities in the pursuit of improvement to the goods and services offered by the companies that interact with the defence sector across the whole of industry. Finally, as a consequence of collaboration between military and civil R&D, technological innovation specific to the defence sector has developed that in turn facilitates development and social well-being for the system within the economy as a whole8. Therefore, in this article, by introducing the concept of “economics of security and defence”, and the areas in which this new economic concept plays a role, we stress the importance of the defence sector’s collaboration with society and civil demands. In this regard, through the economic approach of the national defence sector and the knowledge transferred to industry, innovation and excellence are considered to be economic strategies that entail business R&D&I results. Likewise, technological knowledge from R&D activities within defence may be of great economic and social value if applied to civil use. 2. DEFINITION OF THE ECONOMICS OF SECURITY AND DEFENCE. The modernisation of the armed forces arises from the new notion of defence as a state function that benefits society, where its continued evolution is indispensable; both with respect to its structures and to the resources needed for it to carry out its 8 BUENO, E. “El Papel del Desarrollo y Transferencia Tecnológica de la Defensa y las Fuerzas Armadas en el Sistema de I+D+I”, in Briones, A.J. (Dr): Aula Abierta y Foro de Estudio de Seguridad y Defensa. Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), 2011.
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