Convinced of the importance and the urgency of RS for Europe, and of the need for a coherent approach, the European Commission issued a guiding recommendation on enhanced research security in 2024. In Belgium, we are aligning with this reference document. Our focus is on 3 potential breaches of research security: the undesired transfer of knowledge and technology, interference, and misuse of research results. Shared responsibility is an important principle of RS: governments, research funders, the knowledge institutions themselves, as well as the individual researcher, have a role to play.
► Unwanted transfer of knowledge and technology: sometimes a dual agenda is used in which cooperation is consciously used to gain strategically important knowledge in order to benefit economically or militarily from the development of certain technologies; This may jeopardise the security of a country's or region's knowledge potential and innovative strength. These are usually domains in which the targeted country, institution or researcher has a particular strength or world class and therefore also a vulnerability vis-à-vis some international partners. In extreme situations, it can be espionage or the violation of intellectual property rights.
► Interference:this involves influencing researchers, research results/publications, for example to justify one's own policy or malicious action, or to make certain cooperation issues impossible through self-censorship, among other things. Values such as academic freedom and scientific integrity are under pressure. Sometimes it also about censoring certain research topics.
► Abuse of research results:this includes unethical use of research results where e.g. human rights are violated, military applications are developed or criminal activities are supported.
