The Evolution of European Autonomy in Aerospace Innovation: A Knowledge Network Approach

The rise of New Space is profoundly reshaping innovation dynamics within the aerospace industry, posing major challenges for Europe in terms of strategic autonomy, security, and competitiveness. This article offers an empirical analysis of the evolution of the cognitive autonomy of European regions in the production of knowledge related to aerospace innovation between 1990 and 2020. Drawing on three datasets, patents filed under the IPC B64G classification (space technologies), and scientific publications in aerospace engineering (ASJC 2202) and space science (ASJC 1912), we reconstruct global citation networks to trace knowledge flows across the entire innovation linear spectrum, from fundamental research to technological application. Using tools from graph theory, we measure the net annual influence of European regions on the rest of the world, accounting for feedback and circularity effects. This enables the development of original indicators of cognitive autonomy in the aerospace domain. Our results reveal a gradual increase in European influence, primarily driven by regions in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. However, the most globally influential regions, such as Île-de-France, Bavaria, and England, tend to rely heavily on extra-European knowledge, acting more as gatekeepers than as vectors of autonomous capacity. In contrast, regions such as Lower Saxony, Zurich, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine demonstrate a capacity for global influence largely rooted in intra-European knowledge sources, contributing more directly to the development of European cognitive autonomy. Finally, a strong negative correlation between North American and European autonomy suggests the existence of a transatlantic interdependence, whereby the decline of one region's influence corresponds to the rise of the other within the global aerospace innovation system.