The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Military-Civil Fusion
A New Paradigm for Military Innovation?

Examines the global interaction between military-civil fusion and the fourth industrial revolution, and how it affects military innovation.

Yoram Evron (Author), Richard A. Bitzinger (Author)

9781009333320, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 March 2025

274 pages, 13 b/w illus. 5 tables
22.8 x 15 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

'I highly recommend this book to soldiers at all levels of the hierarchy. It serves as an invaluable source of ideas and aids in understanding the significance of socio-economic factors that must be addressed in military innovation and achieving success in warfare. At the strategic (e.g. general staff) level, reading the book should be a must…' Maj. Balázs Taksás, Defense & Security Analysis

Advanced commercial technologies offer new opportunities for defense applications that could greatly affect military power and metrics of military advantage. This is relevant when it comes to civilian-based technological innovations found in the emerging 'fourth industrial revolution,' such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, 'big data,' and quantum computing. Militaries and governments around the world are increasingly focused on how and where advanced commercial technologies, innovations, and breakthroughs could potentially create new capacities for military power, advantage, and leverage. This process of exploiting civilian-based advanced technologies is referred to as 'military–civil fusion' (MCF). This book addresses MCF not only from a conceptual and practical sense but also comparatively as it explores how four different countries – the United States, China, India, and Israel – are attempting to use MCF to support national military-technological innovation. It will interest scholars, researchers, and advanced students of military, security, and technology studies, as well as analysts and policymakers in military and defense organizations.

1. Introduction
2. Military-civil fusion: a conceptual framework
3. MCF in the United States of America
4. MCF in China
5. MCF in India
6 MCF in Israel
7. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], International relations [JPS], Military history [HBW]