Filling gaps in strategic thinking in the national ecosystem
- Independent security and strategic risk research and analysis in a changing world order.
- Filling a national vacuum in independent strategic thinking and thought leadership on security.
- Filling a gap in national awareness, applied policy education, training and public discussion on future security questions that have potential to harm societal wellbeing as well as the country’s economic, diplomatic, and military interests.
- Ireland is one of the few countries without a security policy think-tank.
- We fill the current gap in the national ecosystem whereby no research entity or university centre is devoted solely to national security.
- The level of depth within our strategic insights is hard to replicate.
Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration: National, international and cross-sectoral
- Our close collaboration with stakeholders assists better stakeholder feedback loops and quality control.
- Our ‘hub and spoke’ model means that as a national applied policy hub, we will engage with major universities and key academics across the island and internationally, thus facilitating a more efficient application of national resources.
- Our emphasis on interdisciplinary university collaboration outside traditional fields of security, intelligence and international affairs means that we can better deal with the changing nature of modern risks which will require us to think outside the box and draw on expertise from other fields (e.g. physics, chemistry, engineering, social science, mathematics, philosophy).
- We can translate our colleagues informative academic findings into practical policy recommendations and impactful strategic products for public and government consumption.
- We have identified and will draw on the comparative advantage of our university/academic partners to drive more impactful national benefits and a greater international presence.
- Our model enables the creation of a national security research capability to better participate in EU/global projects and access international research funding streams.
Creating a community of interest
- Opportunities for Irish governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to find high-level expertise on key security subjects within Ireland.
- Our global network allows us to pursue exchanges of good practice.
- We adopt a policy impact-driven approach.
- Informing citizens about emerging questions of national and international import.
- Enabling decision-makers to create more informed, and thus sustainable, decisions on key subjects.
- Fostering a national community of interest and a global network.
Future proofing our policies
- Proofing our societies against future threats: Prepositioning through forecast and foresight on technological, geopolitical and economic security trends.
- Anticipatory and proactive approaches to geostrategic challenges allow us to provide a roadmap for new concepts and strategies that drive operational and tactical adaptation in the future where policy and strategy frameworks are not adequate. Many governments wait until criminals or terrorists start using such technologies and tools before responding, both operationally and policy-wise. This makes us reactive rather than proactive, despite best efforts, to the criminal world.
- We plug a gap in national and international regulatory landscapes for new and maturing security fields that could be more proactively addressed, especially for the regulation of emerging technologies.