Privatised technological sovereignty: the IRIS2 space project and state-capital relations in the European Union
研究了欧盟IRIS2卫星项目如何通过依赖私人投资实现技术主权，揭示了这种模式强化了私人资本主导地位并加剧成员国竞争。
Outer space has emerged as a critical realm for global technological rivalry. The European Union, an established player in this domain, is recalibrating its strategy in pursuit of ‘technological sovereignty’: minimising external dependencies in the development and control of critical technologies. Recent scholarship suggests that this contributes to a shift in European state-capital relations. This article examines to which extent technological competition entails such a transformation, focusing on three dimensions: mode of financing, state intervention, and intra-EU competition. The planned satellite constellation IRIS², an ambitious multi-billion technology project, serves as a crucial case. Drawing on expert interviews and desk research, the analysis identifies a mode of privatized technological sovereignty, whereby strategic projects are outsourced to private corporations and made conditional on their investment incentives. This reinforces the dominance of private capital in technological development and supports market consolidation in favour of incumbent firms. It also sustains internal competition among member states over industrial returns. The article contributes to a growing body of literature on the politics of financial de-risking and European technological sovereignty. It demonstrates that a reliance on private investment not only shapes the EU’s approach to technological competition but also its ability to respond to external dependencies.