Weaponising Innovation

A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Chinese Techno-Nationalist Approaches

Abstract

In contemporary geopolitical competition, the close interconnection between technology, innovation, and national security is theoretically framed by the concept of techno-nationalism. At the core of these processes lies the great-power strategic rivalry between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, in which defense innovation and the pursuit of technological superiority are regarded as prerequisites for both national security and economic competitiveness. The comparative analysis of defense innovation ecosystems highlights structural differences in national research and development models, as well as the divergent logics of financing and strategic governance. The study further reviews the emergence and theoretical foundations of techno-nationalism and explores its practical manifestations in the context of great-power competition. The analysis demonstrates that efforts toward technological autonomy and strategic sovereignty have become central drivers of geopolitical, economic, and scientific dynamics, shaping the 21st-century global order increasingly along techno-nationalist lines.