What is CODE about?
Competition in the Digital Era: Geopolitics and Technology in the 21st Century, or more simply, CODE, is a European Research Council-funded project that examines technological competition between China, the United States and Europe in three key sectors of contemporary economics and geopolitics: semiconductors, cloud computing and space.
At its core, CODE recognises the importance of technology in geopolitics. CODE has three overarching goals: first, to expand the theoretical toolbox of International Relations theories by integrating insights from political economy, innovation, and management studies. Second, to provide a methodologically sound analysis of ongoing geopolitical and technological transformations. CODE uses qualitative and quantitative tools to measure technological competition, as well as market and patent data, which will then be used for network analyses. Finally, the project aims to inform policy and societal debates on these particularly sensitive issues.
Why a CODE Substack?
Or rather, why not? We are certainly living in interesting times: debates about hegemonic power transitions are intensifying as China continues to grow and climb the global technological ladder. Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine is destabilizing Europe, and supply chains are vulnerable to shocks and military damage. Uncertainty is cast over the future of global markets. To make matters more complicated, we are living through a period of major technological change, for example, in areas such as artificial intelligence. How will technological progress unfold and how will it affect economic growth and geopolitical dynamics?
This blog aims to share the CODE team's research findings and explain how geopolitics and technology are linked. If you are interested in our views and those of guest experts on the evolution of the international system and the global distribution of power, not least in the technological arena, CODE will do its best to provide accessible analysis and material.
Subscribe below - it’s free!
Our team
Antonio, Mahmoud, Riccardo, and Thao. These are our names - you can find more information about us and our contact details on our institutional website at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy of the Brussels School of Governance. Get in touch with us! We are always happy to receive feedback from and chat with subject experts.
Antonio Calcara is the project’s principal investigator and lead. Mahmoud, Riccardo, and Thao are the PhD researchers working on the project. Together, they have created this blog and will feed it with spot-on content.
What does CODE offer?
We are in your mailbox twice a month. We are not planning to keep you too busy!
Every month, you receive a newsletter telling you what the CODE team is up to and, most importantly, commenting on what has happened in the geopolitics of technology over the past few weeks and recommending pertinent events, academic articles, and much more.
We also alternate between a CODE Explains and a CODE Explores blog post each month. In these, we break down the theoretical, methodological, and empirical elements of our research and explain their relevance for policy debates, and explore the interplay between technological developments and geopolitics, starting with global events, occurrences, and trends, respectively.
Each new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.
