ECONOMIC SECURITY AND TECHNOLOGY

At Agenda Nexus Think Tank (ANTT), economic security and technology are understood as foundational pillars of modern national and international security. In an increasingly interconnected and competitive global system, economic resilience, technological leadership, and secure supply chains have become decisive factors shaping geopolitical power, strategic autonomy, and long-term stability. Agenda Nexus approaches economic security not as a purely financial issue, but as a strategic domain where economics, technology, geopolitics, and security converge.

A Strategic Understanding of Economic Security

Agenda Nexus defines economic security as the capacity of states and institutions to withstand external shocks, reduce strategic dependencies, and protect critical economic assetswhile maintaining openness, innovation, and sustainable growth. Globalization has delivered efficiency and growth, but it has also created vulnerabilities—exposed by pandemics, wars, sanctions, and coercive economic practices.

ANTT’s work focuses on how economic interdependence is increasingly used as a tool of geopolitical leverage, including through trade restrictions, sanctions, export controls, and supply-chain disruption. We analyze how states seek to balance openness with resilience, and how economic policy is being re-aligned with national security priorities.

Technology as a Strategic Asset

Technology lies at the heart of economic security. Agenda Nexus closely examines strategic technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, space technologies, and cybersecurity. Control over these technologies increasingly defines global influence, military capability, and economic competitiveness.

ANTT analyzes global technology competition, particularly among major powers, and assesses the implications for innovation ecosystems, industrial policy, and international cooperation. We evaluate how technology governance, standards-setting, and regulation shape global markets and security outcomes.

Supply Chains and Strategic Dependencies

Agenda Nexus places strong emphasis on supply-chain resilience, particularly in critical sectors such as energy, food, healthcare, semiconductors, rare earths, and defense-related industries. Disruptions to these supply chains can have immediate and far-reaching consequences for societies, economies, and security systems.

Our analyses identify strategic dependencies, assess exposure to geopolitical risk, and explore diversification strategies that enhance resilience without undermining global cooperation. ANTT examines reshoring, friend-shoring, and regionalization trends, as well as the risks and trade-offs associated with each approach.

Policy Analysis and Advisory Work

Agenda Nexus produces policy reports, strategic assessments, and actionable recommendationsaimed at strengthening economic and technological resilience. Our work supports policymakers, institutions, and private-sector stakeholders in designing policies that safeguard critical industries while fostering innovation and competitiveness.

ANTT’s advisory work includes:

• Economic risk and vulnerability assessments

• Technology and industrial policy analysis

• Sanctions, export controls, and economic statecraft

• Critical infrastructure and investment screening

• Public-private cooperation on innovation and resilience

Our recommendations are grounded in empirical analysis and comparative international experience, ensuring relevance across different political and economic systems.

Innovation, Governance, and Democratic Resilience

Agenda Nexus emphasizes that long-term economic security depends on strong institutions, transparent governance, and democratic resilience. Innovation thrives in open societies that protect intellectual property, promote fair competition, and invest in education and research.

ANTT examines how regulatory frameworks, competition policy, and public investment influence innovation outcomes and economic security. We also analyze the risks posed by technological authoritarianism, digital surveillance, and the misuse of emerging technologies.

Dialogue, Partnerships, and Global Coordination

Agenda Nexus serves as a platform for dialogue and strategic coordinationon economic security and technology. Through seminars, expert workshops, and international conferences, we bring together policymakers, economists, technologists, and industry leaders to exchange insights and develop coordinated responses to shared challenges.

We work closely with academic institutions, policy centers, and international partners to ensure that our analyses are both academically rigorous and practically relevant.

Vision and Strategic Objectives

Agenda Nexus envisions a global economic system where security, innovation, and openness reinforce rather than undermine each other. Our goal is to contribute to policy frameworks that protect critical technologies, strengthen economic resilience, and promote sustainable and inclusive growth.

By integrating economic security and technology into broader strategic analysis, ANTT seeks to support a world where innovation serves peace, cooperation, and democratic stability—rather than becoming a source of division and conflict.

Policy Brief:

Economic Security in the Age of Strategic Technologies

Why Technology Has Become a Core National Security Issue

By: Martin Randall

Economic security has become inseparable from technological power. As advanced technologies shape supply chains, military capability, and political influence, states face a defining challenge: how to protect open economies while preventing strategic dependence and technological coercion in an increasingly contested global order.

Economic security and technological leadership are no longer separate policy domains. In today’s geopolitical environment, advanced technologies—semiconductors, artificial intelligence, energy systems, quantum computing, and critical digital infrastructure—have become decisive instruments of power. States that control these technologies shape global supply chains, set standards, and influence political outcomes far beyond their borders.

For democracies, the challenge is clear: how to protect open markets and innovation ecosystems while reducing strategic dependencies on authoritarian actors that weaponize trade, technology, and data. Economic security is now inseparable from technological sovereignty.

Strategic Dependency as a Vulnerability

Over the past three decades, globalization delivered efficiency, lower costs, and rapid technological diffusion. But it also created asymmetric dependencies. Key technologies and inputs—advanced chips, rare earth elements, battery components, cloud infrastructure, and telecommunications hardware—are often concentrated in a small number of countries or controlled by state-influenced corporations.

This concentration has exposed democracies to coercion. Export restrictions, supply disruptions, cyber intrusions, and intellectual property theft have demonstrated how technology dependence can be leveraged for political and economic pressure. Economic security failures are no longer hypothetical risks; they are recurring geopolitical tools.

Semiconductors: The Backbone of Economic Power

No sector illustrates this better than semiconductors. Chips are embedded in everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military systems, energy grids, and healthcare devices. Control over semiconductor design, manufacturing, and equipment has become a defining factor in global power competition.

Disruptions—whether caused by conflict, sanctions, or natural disasters—can cascade across entire economies. The global chip shortages of recent years revealed how fragile supply chains can undermine industrial output, inflation control, and national resilience.

As a result, technology policy has shifted from market neutrality to strategic intervention. Governments now see domestic capacity, trusted supply chains, and allied coordination as essential components of economic security.

Artificial Intelligence and Data as Strategic Assets

Artificial intelligence is transforming productivity, defense, governance, and information ecosystems. But AI systems are only as powerful as the data, compute capacity, and algorithms behind them. This raises urgent questions about who controls data flows, cloud infrastructure, and foundational AI models.

Authoritarian states increasingly integrate AI into surveillance, influence operations, and military planning. Meanwhile, private corporations hold unprecedented economic and political power through proprietary platforms and data monopolies.

Without clear governance frameworks, democracies risk falling into a dual trap: over-dependence on foreign-controlled technologies and under-regulation of domestic tech giants whose incentives may not align with public interest or national security.

Technology, Energy, and Economic Resilience

Economic security cannot be achieved without addressing the technology-energy nexus. Digital economies depend on stable energy supplies, while energy transitions rely on advanced technologies such as smart grids, storage systems, and critical minerals processing.

Green technologies—once seen primarily as climate tools—are now strategic assets. Control over clean energy technologies determines not only environmental outcomes but also industrial competitiveness and geopolitical leverage.

Failure to invest in secure, diversified, and sustainable energy technologies risks replacing one dependency (fossil fuels) with another (critical minerals and foreign-controlled manufacturing).

The Cost of Inaction

Ignoring economic security in technology policy carries significant risks:

• Supply chain shocksthat disrupt key industries

• Loss of technological leadershipand standard-setting power

• Increased exposure to economic coercion

• Erosion of democratic resiliencethrough cyber and information threats

• Strategic disadvantage in future conflicts

Economic security is not about protectionism; it is about resilience, redundancy, and strategic foresight.

Policy Recommendations

To strengthen economic security in the technological era, policymakers should focus on five strategic priorities:

1. Diversify and De-risk Supply Chains

Governments should support diversification away from single-point dependencies, especially in semiconductors, critical minerals, and digital infrastructure. This requires incentives for near-shoring, friend-shoring, and multi-source procurement.

2. Invest in Domestic and Allied Capacity

Public-private partnerships must accelerate investment in research, manufacturing, and workforce development. No country can achieve technological sovereignty alone—alliances are essential.

3. Protect Critical Technologies

Clear frameworks for export controls, investment screening, and intellectual property protection are necessary to prevent strategic technologies from strengthening adversarial capabilities.

4. Strengthen Democratic Tech Governance

Democracies must lead in setting global norms for AI, data protection, cybersecurity, and digital markets—ensuring innovation aligns with human rights, transparency, and rule of law.

5. Integrate Technology into Economic and Security Strategy

Technology policy should be embedded in national security planning, trade negotiations, and foreign policy—not treated as a separate economic issue.

Conclusion: From Efficiency to Resilience

The era of prioritizing efficiency over resilience is over. Economic security in the 21st century depends on technological foresight, strategic coordination, and democratic values. Technology will continue to shape global power balances—but how it is governed will determine whether it strengthens freedom or enables coercion.

For democracies, the task ahead is not to retreat from globalization, but to reshape it—building economic systems that are innovative, secure, and aligned with long-term strategic interests. The choices made today will define not only economic competitiveness, but political autonomy and global stability for decades to come.