The Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) will create a “research security committee”, a decisive step to face “the risks derived from the current geopolitical scenario” and protect its scientists and their research from espionage.
As elDiario.es has learned, the CSIC is working on the creation of this body, following the recommendations of the European Council and in line with the guidelines set by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Once established, in the coming weeks, this committee will be in charge of drafting the action protocols that prevent the scientific results of its teams from being stolen by competing countries and used improperly against European security.
This measure is part of the movement to ensure “European strategic autonomy” and follows the recommendations launched by the Council to “address risks to research security arising from international cooperation.” “We must not be naive,” warned politician Willy Borsus during the Belgian presidency last May. “The scientific community needs guidance without delay.”
We must not be naive. The scientific community needs guidance without delay
Willy Borsus
— Belgian politician
Although official documents speak generically of the “changing geopolitical context”, the threat on the table is the interference of countries like Russia and China, as a result of the invasion of ukraine in 2022 and the new global strategic alignments. In its recommendations, the EU warns that researchers “may be targeted to obtain cutting-edge knowledge and technology, sometimes using deceptive and covert methods, or through theft or coercion, but more often by exploiting ostensibly international academic cooperation.” “genuine.”
Suspicions about Chinese institutions
These recommendations come against a backdrop of strong suspicions that the Chinese government uses academia, through bodies such as the China Scholarship Council (CSC), to infiltrate spies and obtain crucial information. The information portal Politico recently warned that a group of Chinese universities with military ties, known as the “Seven Sons of National Defense,” are involved in research projects funded by the European Union. At the same time, other actions have been discovered within the company, such as the recent arrest of three Chinese citizens in Germany, accused of an “illegal export” of a type of German laser with possible civil and military uses.
The motto of the initiative is “As open as possible, as closed as necessary.”
The European Commission cites these “diverse, unpredictable and often hybrid threats” and the fact that “some of the Union’s competitors are increasingly improving their capabilities in this regard or actively pursuing civil-military fusion strategies” , in a clear allusion to situations like the previous ones. At the same time, and aware that relations cannot be severed with a country with as many resources as China, the European authorities call for balance through a simple motto regarding scientific exchanges and collaborations: “As open as possible, as closed.” as necessary.”
Ten sensitive areas
The new “research security committee” of the CSIC must materialize the measures and recommendations that its researchers must adopt to avoid the risk of this knowledge being used, in the words of the European Council, “to strengthen military capabilities and security services.” intelligence of these countries, affecting the security of the Union and its Member States.”
The recommendations should give priority to the ten sensitive areas in which surveillance must be extreme, among which advanced semiconductor technologies (which affect the manufacturing of microprocessors), artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and biotechnology stand out in particular. The other six sensitive areas are digital technologies, sensors, aerospace programs, energy, robotics and new materials.
The most sensitive areas are advanced semiconductor technologies, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and biotechnology
Some institutions, such as the CNRS – the equivalent of the CSIC in France – have been protecting their research for years through a protection program (Protection of Scientific and Technical PotentialPPST), which can now serve as a model for other European countries. German company DLR Projektträger offers a guide to improving the security of international research cooperation and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has developed a China Defense University Tracker that is widely used by universities to decide on research collaborations .
An underestimated risk
Claudio Feijóo, professor and director for Asia at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) who has worked in China between 2014 and 2020, believes that institutions must establish a filter that works like a traffic light, in which there are areas red (highly sensitive matters), amber (technologies that could be dual) and green (such as collaboration on environmental issues). “The great problem of our time, as conflicts increase and the world becomes more multipolar, is that anything can be dual,” he explains to elDiario.es. That is why he believes that the smart thing is to analyze case by case without completely cutting the threads. “In a world that is becoming more complicated, it is smart to maintain connections even if you have to tolerate a certain level of risk,” he says.
For a long time we have underestimated the risks of scientific and technological collaboration with China
Mario Esteban
— Principal researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the UAM
Mario Esteban, principal researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the UAM, also believes that there are risks, but that taking into account that not having any scientific collaboration with China is equally risky. “The solution is to do a more personalized check of who you are collaborating with, because, if not, it is like killing flies with cannon fire,” he says. Now, he admits, “it is true that for a long time we have underestimated the risks of scientific and technological collaboration with China in some areas; It has only been assessed whether there was a particular benefit for specific institutions, without considering what implications this could have, and that is what must be avoided.”
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