Dual-use technology and the darker side of innovation

by Corporate Watch / Arms Trade, Companies, News, Slider, Technology / 14 Nov 2025

Introducing a new series of reports investigating companies manufacturing and promoting ‘dual-use’ surveillance technologies, produced in collaboration with Privacy International.

We are living through a moment of profound transformation as military imperatives and corporate interests are no longer separate threads in the fabric of technological innovation. Instead they are inseparably interwoven. “Innovation” is increasingly framed not as a response to a concrete human need, but in terms of strategic advantage, deterrence, and national security. States and corporations alike are turning to technology which blurs the line between civilian life and military power to advance foreign policy agendas and to assert geopolitical dominance.

And this is what dual-use technology is all about – items that can be used for civilian and military applications alike. Tools and technologies developed for everyday convenience commerce and that can just as easily serve surveillance, repression or warfare. Or military technologies that can also be used in civilian applications. Technologies such as drones, satellites, cloud computing, and various artificial intelligence solutions, are sold to public as solutions that serve productivity, connection and mobility but these very same technologies are being developed, purchased, refined and deployed by military forces around the globe.

The data from your social media may also be used to guide targeting systems. The satellite that helps you navigate with your mobile phone may also support battlefield logistics. The platform that promises global connectivity may also enable mass surveillance. The smart city that promises enhanced efficiency, sustainability, and economic growth may also incentivise over policing of its communities. The drone that allows you to capture that beautiful footage on holidays may also be used to bomb innocent people elsewhere.

What about the companies behind the research and development of these dual-use technologies you might ask? They range widely from household names to obscure contractors buried deep in supply chains. Some have spent decades carefully cultivating their reputation as drivers of progress and consumer empowerment while quietly profiting from defence contracts and state partnerships. Others are newer players, already born in and fuelled by this era of tech militarisation, eager to carve out a place in a lucrative and expanding market. All of them together form a powerful and opaque ecosystem that thrives in the shadows between civilian life and military power.

This series developed in partnership with Privacy International profiles ten such companies and their products, that we will gradually publish, aiming to demonstrate how technologies developed for the battlefield are now shaping civilian life. Additionally, it seeks to support civil society and investigations to shed light on the opaque corporate structures and public–private partnerships that enable unlawful surveillance and repression, often shielded from scrutiny by the pursuit of profit. By tracing these connections and funding flows – including the role of EU funding programmes like Readiness 2030 Europe (initially branded as ReArm Europe) Plan – the series also highlights how public money is fuelling a global market for dual-use technologies with far-reaching social and political consequences.

1. Demonstrate the militarisation of our societies

The battlefield is coming to our towns and cities, as technologies that we rely on every day are militarised. In turn, civilian technologies driven by our data and our lives, are moving onto the battlefield. The very same companies who build tools of war are expanding to deliver civilian infrastructure, and vice versa.

2. Towards greater transparency - inside corporate structures

This series seeks to support civil society and investigations into how private companies enable unlawful state surveillance of targeted individuals, groups, and ultimately entire communities. By highlighting elements of the complex corporate structures—such as subsidiaries that can obscure accountability, it aims to help trace those responsible for the development and deployment of surveillance technologies. These companies, often driven by profit and shielded from scrutiny, provide tools that empower states to monitor, control, and repress individuals. This dynamic not only undermines democratic freedoms and privacy but also fuels a global tech race that prioritises dominance over rights.

3. Role of public funds in the tools that private companies are marketing and profiting from

This series also seeks to expose how public funds—including those from the European Union—are fuelling the development and export of surveillance technologies. Under the guise of migration control and security cooperation, and more recent initiatives like the Readiness 2030 Europe (initially branded as ReArm Europe) Plan, the EU is chanelling billions of public funds into defence and security industries—often with limited transparency or oversight—fueling a market where tools designed for military use increasingly spill into civilian contexts and repressive regimes.

Some companies you will recognise instantly, others you may never have heard of. What they have in common is that all of them sit at the crossroads of innovation, capitalism and militarisation. The profiles include the following sections:

a company snapshot which introduce the business, its size, reach and core activities;
dual-use products which highlights technologies developed by the company that serve both civilian and military purposes;
other issues of concern outlines scandals, criticisms or ethical concerns tied to the company’s operations;
people and politics looks at leadership figures within the company, revolving doors with government, and political agendas shaping the company’s direction; and
Who owns the brand traces ownership, shareholders and corporate control.

This series is not simply about documenting companies or listing their products. It does not promise to be exhaustive (very far from it!) or all encompassing. We aim to give readers necessary insights to look more critically at the narrative of progress, innovation, and security that surround us all. By unpacking how dual-use technology is researched, built, marketed and deployed, these profiles aim to sharpen skepticism towards the idea that innovation is always benign and that it inevitably serves public good. In an era where security narratives are more abundant than ever and when technological innovation is often celebrated without question, the goal here is to invite readers to pause, examine a small piece of what lies in the shadows and ask who truly benefits from the technologies that are shaping our world today.

Read the first two profiles now on Israeli military giant, Israel Aerospace Industries, and US defence tech firm, Anduril Industries.