Dual-use and unintended use of findings

“Dual-Use Research (“DUR”) is defined as research conducted for legitimate purposes that generates knowledge, information, technologies, and/or products that could be utilized for both benevolent and harmful purposes.” (c.f. Boston University Research support)

The Research Service of UNIGE has developed recommendations for researchers who may face dual-use research issues. 

DUR issues are especially sensitive when collaborating with China, due to the blurred frontier between the academic and the military worlds. “Military-Civil fusion” is a strategy developed by the Chinese Communist Party aiming at developing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a world class military by 2049 (ref: US Department of State). It is “more far-reaching and ambitious in scale than the U.S. equivalent, reflecting a large push to fuse the defense and commercial economies”[1]

As a result, the “Military-Civil Fusion” policy will accelerate the transfer of knowledge and technology to the military sector, with the risk of serving repressive practices, or violations of human rights.

Research conducted at UNIGE is most of the time not directly linked to applied technologies that could be subject to dual-use. However “Dual Use Research of Concern (“DURC”) must also be considered. It is defined as “life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security.” (c.f. Boston University Research support)

In the case of China, key technologies with higher risk of dual-use include:

  • quantum computing
  • big data
  • semiconductors
  • 5G
  • advanced nuclear technology
  • aerospace technology
  • Artificial Intelligence

For a detailed list of dual-use items, please refer to the list developed by the European Commission


[1] cfr.org - Lorand Laskai, Civil–military fusion: the missing link between China’s technological and military rise, Council on Foreign Relations, January 29, 2018