A Welcome to the EELISA Community on Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation

The EELISA Community of Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation focuses on supporting students to meet emerging global needs and to understand the international dimension of engineering and architecture. To this aim, the Community takes advantage of multi-organizational, international partnerships of academic and industrial organizations that emphasize collaborative educational programmes on the international implications of technology for global welfare.  

Our Community is built around the relation between two keywords: international and engineering. Are you interested in the international implications of engineering and technology? Would you like to develop your Diploma Project about humanitarian engineering in a developing country? Do you want to experience the innovative ecosystem of Shanghai? How about understanding the geopolitics of technology and how they shape policies? Or are you interested in exploring the possibilities to get a job in the European Union institutions or in the many multilateral organizations increasingly relevant in today’s world? If so, the Community of Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation will offer you plenty of activities to build up on your interests.

Why Tech Diplomacy?

Technoscience —the synergy of science and technology especially after the Second World War— has never been more pervasive in the lives of people around the globe. It is indicative that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, recognizes that international cooperation in engineering and technology is crucial to reduce poverty and inequality, guarantee access to drinking water and sanitation systems, develop rural areas, provide access to energy, reduce hunger and malnutrition, prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and create communication infrastructures, among others. New technologies impact on how people interact and societies evolve, and they reshape how we engage with the world. These challenges have introduced new avenues for world and foreign policy where engineers are called to take center stage in international relations.

Both engineering (and architecture) and technology are today central components of the strategic competition between the world powers including the EU, which has the ambition to play a pivotal role in global international affairs. National states invest in research and development of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and practices such as cybersecurity as the base for disruptive innovations able to shift the existing geopolitical balance of power. And while technological transformations have been primarily driven by engineers, politicians and diplomats are those that are called to draw national developmental and economic strategies, until now basically in isolation to those who have the technical expertise.

Towards a European Framework for Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation

U. von der Leyen (EC President) acknowledged (Sept-2020) that Europe has joined the technology race late. Either Europe takes a lead in the digital path to innovation or it will have no choice but to follow the rules laid down by other countries. The implementation of a safe and transparent European electronic ID card, the Digital Europe Programme and so on are inward-looking actions to increase member state capabilities to work together and build a European roadmap of technoscience and digital diplomacy. The next step is to build a robust, outward-looking international tech cooperation action. So far, the EU has focused on finding its own space within the growing global geopolitical competition. However, the EU still misses a robust roadmap for internationalizing its vision of technoscience diplomacy and cooperation with European values at its core.

The role of EELISA universities in international action

Universities are resilient but flexible enough institutions with their own internationalization agendas. If we were to plot on the world map the relations of the members of EELISA, we would certainly find that EELISA has links to and across all continents, displaying a web of global connections.

Besides, we should not overlook the fact that there is one characteristic that makes EELISA undertakings especially interesting at an international level: its technological heart. EELISA includes some of Europe’s best and oldest engineering schools that have forged relationships with the best universities in the USA, China or Russia, examples of geopolitically important countries with also prominent engineering universities. At the same time, some of the EELISA partners are strong players in humanities and social sciences and have the capacity to provide a critical perspective to the development of science and technology taking into account the importance of ethical and societal issues in international relations.  

In today’s world, the universities that, like EELISA members, compete globally are rather like multinationals that end up developing research and cooperation projects in different parts of the world. The wealth of these relationships is something of which the EU has to take advantage to round out its diplomacy and international cooperation policy, as universities are reliable, resilient public institutions with lasting relationships that also have deep international connections to technological evolution and, thus, to the very early stages of disruptive innovations.

EELISA Community on Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation

For Europe, it is critical that technological developments support and uphold human dignity, the ethical use of personal data, accessible technologies for all, the democratic values, the human rights, and the integrity of our societal model. Based on this conviction, we want to build a technoscience diplomacy & international cooperation community in EELISA that helps to shape and develop this European model. We will make our voice heard in the EU as Europe takes on a greater responsibility in defining our technological future and our international cooperation agenda.

As a truly international, interdisciplinary and innovative network of engineering actors, EELISA has the capacity:

– to build a coherent and robust framework for Tech Diplomacy & International Cooperation in Europe;

– to train the next generation of engineers who could play key roles in international relations;

– to provide an interdisciplinary think tank of experts in EU’s tech diplomacy    

– to convey to diplomats and those engaged in international relationships the engineering culture and the innovation mindset.

By being part of our EELISA Community, you belong to an international network of students, university staff, professors and professionals that are interested on the international and multicultural dimensions of engineering and technology, and help to shape more sustainable and equitable societies.

Welcome to our Community!