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Alfonso J. Iglesias Velasco - Raquel Jorge Ricart The principle of coherence in…
and the undeniable development of security and defence products, both technological
and thanks to digital techniques, in cyber security, artificial intelligence, 5G, quantum
computing, and data management itself, there are certain dual-use technologies that
have no place within the traditional classification of patents. Their dual application,
both civil and military, makes it difficult to categorise these technologies. On the one
hand, the first obstacle is that there is no homogeneous definition of what an “artificial
intelligence project” is, as is the case within the Pentagon. A Department of Defence
Inspector General audit in 2020 concluded that there is no comprehensive governance
framework on artificial intelligence (AI)174: neither are there technical, operational or
programmatic requirements on what the implementation and deployment phases of
AI should look like, nor is there clarity on what should be labelled as an AI project.
On the other hand, this extends to the International Patent Classification where, ac-cording
to Silvia Vicente Oliva175, it is the multinational companies that register the
most innovations (in number) in Spain, labelling it in English and with different
nomenclatures to those of the Spanish ecosystem. This delays Spanish innovation and
hence the need to homogenise definitions and encourage a more interconnected value
chain between companies of Spanish origin.
Fourthly, the Spanish ecosystem requires the inclusion of new measures linked
to digitisation176 and Industry 4.0. This is an aspect that has been contemplated in
the General Guidelines of the new Spanish industrial policy 2030177. Furthermore, dig-itisation
can enable Spain to achieve the objective set by the European Union of a
20% share of GDP for industrial activities, if this digitisation is approached under a
mission-country vision. Such is the importance of digitisation at industrial level, in
general, and in security and defence companies, in particular, that the digital trans-formation
is at the top of the priorities of the above-mentioned strategic framework.
Defence industries will have to produce “intelligent weapon systems” to provide the
armed forces with the material means to ensure their superiority in action in the 4.0
operating environments. This requires a Spanish ecosystem capable of doing so at the
various levels of production, development, implementation and deployment. The
digital technologies that allow the hybridisation between the traditional physical do-mains
-sea, air, land- and cybernetic, as well as the growing dominance of outer space,
174 INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE. Audit of Governance
and Protection of Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Data and Technology. Washington, U.S.
Department of Defense, 2020. Retrieved on https://media.defense.gov/2020/Jul/01/2002347967/-1/-
1/1/DODIG-2020-098.PDF
175 VICENTE OLIVA, S. “Protección del conocimiento y de tecnología con utilidad de defensa”.
Economía Industrial Núm.412: Industria de Defensa, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, 2019,
pp.77-88.
176 MINISTRY OF DEFENCE. Defence Industry Perspective. Madrid, Ministry of Defence, 2019,
pp.24-30.
177 MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY, TRADE AND TOURISM. General Guidelines of the new Spanish
Industrial Policy 2030. Madrid, MINOCTUR, 2019.
Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies no. 16 Year: 2020 - Págs.: 399 a 460