Co-Producing Security: EU Governance, Ukrainian Dual-Use Innovation, and the Club-to-Commons Shift

This paper explores how the interplay between EU governance and financial instruments, designed to upgrade Europe’s defense capacity and support Ukraine, and the internationalization strategies of Ukrainian dual-use IT firms produces a new regime of shared ownership and co-production of European security and defense capabilities. Using Ostrom’s “Club to Commons” lens, we conceptualize this transformation as a dynamic shift from conditionality- and standardization-driven club logic to a commons-oriented governance and ownership model. Initially, two clubs—the EU and Ukraine—interact under stress: the EU enforces accession and compliance rules (export controls, security clearances, state-aid restrictions) and direct financial flows to support Ukraine's defense capacities, while ownership remains local within Ukrainian firms. As integration deepens, access widens through instruments such as the European Defence Fund (EDF), European Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), and BraveTech EU, while governance tightens via risk-sharing mechanisms, guarantees, and joint procurement frameworks. These arrangements introduce EU investors and institutions as co-owners, creating hybrid structures that embed Ukrainian firms into European defense-industrial ecosystems. Ultimately, this transition institutionalizes a commons logic across three layers: legal (IP pools and licensing frameworks), financial (co-investment funds and joint procurement), and governance (shared standards, monitoring, and compliance). Ukrainian defense-tech firms—battlefield-tested and now increasingly EU-integrated—become co-producers of European security, embedding resilience and innovation into EU value chains. The paper contributes to research on differentiated integration, demonstrating how conditionality-driven governance can morph into shared-ownership regimes under conditions of strategic interdependence. The paper contributes to research on differentiated integration by linking EU internal reforms with enlargement dynamics through the lens of defense-industrial policy.