The European Defence Agency (EDA), thanks to the adoption of a large number of strategic documents, its expertise in the formulation of projects and data collection became a crucial player in the European defence field. Despite these developments, the role of the EDA has been underestimated in European studies and International Relations literature, focusing only on its formal and legalistic aspects (Dyson and Konstadinides 2013; Trybus 2006;2014), on the agency's institutionalization (Bátora 2009; Ekelund 2015) or on EDA's norms (Cross 2015).
However, the everyday practices of the people that work in and collaborate with the Agency remain to be studied systematically. No empirical studies have been conducted to assess the role of the network of experts fostered by the system of specialized capacity committees in the EDA. Indeed, the Agency has developed an “hybrid” way of working that includes "national" (member states' capital-based) and "European" (EDA's staff) experts on activities on a very technical level. The EDA has a very small staff, but they work with around 4000 defense specialists based in member states capitals, who are able to ensure the member states' direct involvement in EDA's activities and projects. These networks of national experts- moderated by the EDA's staff- are organized in Integrated Development Teams (IDTs), Project Teams (PTs) as well as CapTechs in the research & technology domain. (EDA 2015). Member states have used the EDA's instruments to stimulate R&T in important technology domains such as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) or Force Protection (FP) (Dahlmann, Dickow and Tisserant 2015) and the specialized network of experts foster the exchange of technical information and best practices among actors from industry, academia and governments at the national level and the more “Europeanized” EDA staff.
Thanks to the fruitful collaboration between capital-based experts and the EDA's staff- the agency is becoming de facto the hub of defence research at the EU level and it is gaining legitimacy “vìs a vìs” member states and the European Commission.
This study is aimed to answer the following questions : what is the relation between member states' experts and the EDA's staff? Is it possible to differentiate between a "national" and a "European" model in the development and offer of technical expertise? Are these national and European networks of experts capable of generating a process of socialization among practitioners in the European defence policy or- as the totality of scholars assert- do they continue to follow the interests and priorities of individual member states that lead the defense research in Europe?
Aiming to contribute to fill the empirical gap in the literature about EDA, this article explores if and in what way the involvement and influence of network of experts are changing the defence research agenda and if and in what way they contribute to overcome the problems of coordination and trust among member states at the Europan level.
