6.1.3 Disruptive technological innovations

Content

Geographic inquiry and concept(s)
- How technological and globalizing processes create new geopolitical and economic risks for individuals and societies
Geographic knowledge and understanding
- New and emerging threats to the political and economic sovereignty of states: disruptive technological innovations, such as drones and 3D printing
Case study or detailed examples
- Neither required by the syllabus
Aims of this lesson
- To have knowledge and understanding of disruptive technological innovations that could create new geopolitical and economic risks for individuals and societies.

Non-state group learns from Ukrainian warfare to develop cabled drones that evade hi-tech defences of state army

The Guardian · 12 May 2026

3D Printing
- The creation of a physical object from a digital model by laying down a sequence of layers of material.

Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights
- Drone activities that are beyond the visual line of sight of the operator.

Disruptive technological innovations
- A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry.

Drone
- An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight.

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Analyse how profit repatriation and tax avoidance by transnational corporations threaten the economic sovereignty of states. [12]
Analyse how disruptive technological innovations such as drones and 3D printing create new threats to the sovereignty of states. [12]
National governments have lost the ability to control global interactions. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [16]