Engineers: The Cornerstone of Technological Sovereignty

Research Defense and Security
Linda Gardelle during her exchange at NTU (Taiwan)

During a research stay in Taiwan, Linda Gardelle, a professor and researcher in sociology at ENSTA, examined the decisive role engineers play in the island’s sovereignty. Under constant pressure from Beijing, their expertise in electronics—particularly in semiconductors—acts as a “silicon shield”: a guarantee that is both economic and political. What is the situation in France? And how can we equip engineers to meet the challenges of innovation in the context of international technological competition?

This is the focus of the InSTIg research project (Engineers and Technological Sovereignty in Strategic Industries), funded by the Defense Innovation Agency (AID) through the Interdisciplinary Center for Defense and Security (CIEDS). Selected as part of the 6th round of the CIEDS call for proposals, InSTig brings together researchers from the FoAP / ENSTA laboratory, UTC Compiègne, and UC Louvain (Belgium). It will provide funding for a 3-year doctoral thesis and two 2-year postdoctoral fellowships.

The InSTIg research project will enable us to gather the lived experiences of engineers in France, Belgium, and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan. We aim to thoroughly document the strategic role of engineers in electrometallurgy and semiconductors with regard to industrial sovereignty.

Linda Gardelle Associate professor in sociology at ENSTA, FoAP laboratory

The main fieldwork for the study will take place in the Grenoble region, the heart of the electrometallurgy industry—a sector facing significant industrial challenges. We will gather engineers’ lived experiences to map out their role in matters of sovereignty and thereby identify the moments or professional situations in which engineers play a key role.

“During my research exchange semester at National Taiwan University (NTU), I observed that engineers sometimes felt ill-equipped to deal with sovereignty issues, and that this hindered their actions and decision-making. “The project will analyze the difficulties engineers face in relation to geopolitical and strategic autonomy issues and identify the knowledge and tools they need to better integrate these considerations into their practices and decisions. The goal is to provide avenues for reflection as well as proposals for action,” explains Linda Gardelle.


By combining sociology, innovation management, economics, geopolitics, and education and training sciences, InSTIg aims to take a strategic perspective and offer operational tools: normative frameworks, training programs, and more. The goal is to better equip engineers—both in initial training and continuing education—and thus support them throughout their careers in managing complex situations to foster innovation in strategic sectors critical to national sovereignty.

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