A STUDY ON PREDICTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY CONVERGENCE IN DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES

This study aims to predict technology convergence in the defense .eld using link prediction. Based on the patents in South Korea, a link prediction model for con­vergence in military technology has been presented. The result shows that IT technolo­gies are likely to play a crucial role in converging military technologies. In particular, measurement, control, and computing technologies are intermediaries, driving conver­gence across the present and future. While the importance of gunpowder and traditional weapon technologies will diminish, the importance of aircraft technologies such as drones will be greater. Furthermore, the network analysis shows that the convergence network will be more centralized and dense, which means that the convergence of technologies will strengthen in the future. This paper’s main contribution is to present the future direction of defense R&D promotion from the viewpoint of technology convergence.