In this colloquium, Hans Jørgen Gåsemyr, will present a paper on “Chinese approaches to research security” and the outlines of broader a research agenda on evolving risk-benefit perceptions in knowledge relations between China and the EU, USA and other major science nations. Digital- and data technologies, often referred to as critical, strategic, or emerging technologies, play pivotal roles in both.

Several major and interrelated shifts are happening within research and innovation (R&I) activities and relations internationally. First, China, and some other growing science nations, are challenging the domineering positions long maintained by the so-called West. Second, after several decades of intensifying globalization and the internationalization of knowledge production, relations between countries are being increasingly steered by competition- and protectionist-oriented policies. Third, R&I institutions are experiencing enhanced scrutiny concerning the risks and threats that academic activities may present to national security. Fourth, the science fields now considered the most strategic are within digital- and data technologies. In many countries, key science and technology actors are facing strong incentives to both connect and divide, as articulated across various knowledge-, foreign-and security-related policies, which sometimes entail contesting arguments and logics.

China has its own versions of these policies, which may be regarded as responses to- or triggers of relatable policies across the EU and Europe, USA and other large science nations. The research paper studies Chinese policies and measures that correspond with what, at least in Europe, is typically associated with “research security” and “economic security”. Key measures include: a) stricter domestic regulations and oversight; b) more push behind developing domestic capacities and science systems; c) encouraging prioritized areas and forms of international cooperation, including promoting new R&I partnerships, though bilateral and multilateral institutions, the actual and potential effects of which remain unclear.