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Illustrative: packages on a board with routed traces carrying clocked signals, or a data hall of racks and their status lights

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Governance, Policy and International Affairs · Department of Science, Technology and Society

Dual-use items, export control regimes, investment screening and compute

Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance

Technology security covers the security governance of technologies that can be used for harm as well as benefit: dual-use research and goods, export control regimes, investment screening and the governance of advanced compute, what these instruments can and cannot control, and how organisations comply.

01Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Courses
In preparation
Levels
In development
Labs
In development
  • Dual-use technology and research
  • Multilateral export control regimes
  • National export and investment screening
  • Compute governance and thresholds
  • Semiconductor supply and controls
  • Technology transfer and research security
  • Compliance programmes for controlled items
  • Effects of controls on innovation and access

Courses in development extend the scope to one further subject: Dual-use technology, export controls and compute governance.

02Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states: a flat plan of the faculty twin. 13 countries; First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens; Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens. Graticule every five degrees; countries (natural earth 1:110m) as outlines.
The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda and neighbours. Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.
  • 13 countries
  • First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Countries are raised on the globe for legibility.

Drag to turn the globe, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows turn, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

03Live map

Activity and hazards in the Black Sea region

Night-time lights and population, the geography of production and markets, with floods and sea state, over the Black Sea region.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Activity and hazards

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Activity and hazards, framed on the Black Sea region.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (5 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Sea surface temperature anomaly: GHRSST MUR25, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04The subject

The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies

The field and its scope

For export control and research security officers, policy analysts and technology leaders who must understand how dual-use goods, research, investment and advanced compute are controlled, what the controls achieve and how organisations comply.

05The method

From parameters and tokens to a threshold: how training compute becomes a regulatory trigger

The compute used to train a model is about six times its parameter count times the tokens it sees; measured in floating-point operations, that quantity is compared with a stated threshold, and crossing it triggers obligations, screening and sometimes a licence decision.

Sources: Sastry and others, Computing Power and the Governance of Artificial Intelligence (2024); European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act) (2024); European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EU) 2021/821 setting up a Union regime for the control of exports of dual-use items (2021); Ding and Dafoe, The Logic of Strategic Assets: From Oil to AI (2021); Bengio and others, International AI Safety Report 2025 (2025).

06At a glance

At a glance, standards and evidence, research and evidence, what is changing and learning

Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance at a glance

risksacademy.comgovernance-policydiscipline

Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance: 0 primary courses open, 1 in preparation and 0 also taught here, across 8 subtopics. Courses: RAS-430 L3 in preparation.RAS-430
Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance at a glance
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 1
  • Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Twin builderBuild a twin of any placeWorked example: the Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states · 4 generators · 10 layers · 3 instruments
07Console

How Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance is taught, as a process you can run

Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.

08Practice

Practice, learning and connections

How technology helps and what risk it brings

09Take part

Take part in Governance, Policy and International Affairs

Start from who you are.

10References

Core references and where to begin

Start with Farrell, then Ding, then Sastry.

11Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Dual-use item

A good, software or technology that can be used for both civilian and military or harmful purposes.

Term

Export control

A legal restriction on sending certain goods, software or technology abroad.

Term

Investment screening

A government review of foreign investment in sensitive sectors for security risk.

Term

Compute governance

Rules and practices that oversee access to and use of large-scale computing for advanced AI.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Technology security: dual-use, export controls and compute governance

Prepare with a related course

Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.