Cornel Ban

What is your area of research?

My research examines how global economic power is reorganized through the control of strategic industries, with a particular focus on Europe’s position in an era of intensifying geoeconomic rivalry. I study sectors such as batteries, semiconductors, and critical minerals to understand how states mobilize finance, industrial policy, and regulation to secure advantage. A central concern in my work is the shifting position of Europe, and especially Germany, within global value chains. While Europe has long been seen as an industrial core, I explore how its strength in precision manufacturing increasingly coexists with dependency in high-value technological components dominated by East Asia and the US.

Why is it so important?

Understanding who controls the key technologies of the green and digital transition is central to both economic sovereignty and political power. My research shows that Europe’s challenges are not simply about competitiveness, but about structural dependency in critical sectors that underpin future growth. This has major implications for policy debates on industrial strategy, strategic autonomy, and EU enlargement. If the European core itself is becoming more dependent on external technological systems, then traditional models of convergence within the EU no longer hold. By analyzing these transformations, my work contributes to rethinking how Europe can navigate a world of fragmented globalisation.

A project you are proud of?

I am particularly proud of my comparative work on Chinese and European cleantech industrial policy, with a focus on how these strategies are financed and scaled. This research examines how China has built a dense ecosystem of state-backed financial instruments, including policy banks, local government funding vehicles, and government-guided funds, to support rapid industrial expansion in sectors such as batteries and renewable energy. In contrast, I analyze how Europe’s more fragmented and risk-averse financial architecture has struggled to mobilize capital at the same scale and speed, despite strong regulatory ambitions.

Updated June 2026

Through his participation in Policy Fellowship 2025-2026, Cornel has been working with Gro Høyer Thielst, journalist at Dagbladet Børsen.