- Item type
- Study and report
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Publication year
- 2023
"Some of the greatest innovations that society has received over the last century have been spin-off technologies from the defence industry. Semiconductors, computers, the global positioning system (GPS), camera lenses, nuclear, and jet engines are all so-called spin-offs from
defence innovation programs. Since the world wars governments have pumped money into military research and development (R&D), while simultaneously climbing innovation rankings and reaching higher overall economic outputs. Therefore, this thesis examines whether the size of military spending impacts a country’s innovation capabilities. To investigate this research area, a quantitative study has been conducted with empirical results gathered from a statistical data analysis. In a cross-country regression model, data was collected on 121 countries from SIPRI’s Military Expenditures Database and WIPO’s Global Innovation Index in the year of 2021. The result rejects the hypothesis based on previous literatures’ findings and conclude that military
spending has no or a slightly positive significant relationship with country innovativeness. This thesis fills previous gaps in the academic theory by conducting a quantitative study with a global scope investigating the relationship between defence innovations and national innovation scores.
It also contributes with statistical evidence for policy makers when deciding on national R&D budgets and navigating in country innovation strategy decisions".
