The project’s empirical findings demonstrate that so far CD&E has been adopted from NATO and applied by the EU in its defence planning and capability development process under the CSDP to a very limited extent. CD&E does not provide tangible input to the main steps in the EU defence planning process in terms of defining capability development priorities. The CD&E methodology has only been employed occasionally in EU civilian capability development in the area of disaster response.
Despite the modest adoption in the EU’s defence planning CDE4Peace research found that CD&E has the potential to be one of the tools for supporting the EU’s integrated civil-military capabilities development in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. More specifically, Concept Development and Experimentation could serve as a tool for politically independent, unbiased and safe experimentation of novel concepts and approaches. To achieve a more elaborate understanding of the EU concept development process a desk review of strategic and operational concepts has been carried out. The review of strategic concepts focussed on three of the most important EU peace-related concepts – resilience, conflict sensitivity and the ‘whole-of-society’ concept. The review of operational concepts examined the operational concepts of three EU CSDP missions – EULEX Kosovo, EUTM Mali and EUBAM Libya. A critical-constructive approach has been applied in order to analyse the maturity level of the selected concepts. The review highlighted some of the strengths and weaknesses in terms of employing quantification methods to EU peace concepts.
CD&E methods such as exercise-based experiments and concept testing can play a supporting role in the EU’s strategic concept development process. These CD&E methods could strengthen EU strategic concepts (such as the concept of strategic autonomy) and raise their maturity level. CD&E could support the intellectual process of finding innovative and viable solutions for the effective survival and transformation of this EU policy area. By exercises and concept testing CD&E can help keeping EU conflict prevention and peacebuilding relevant to the constantly changing geopolitical environment and the complex internal EU undercurrents. The CD&E methodology, however, cannot provide “scientifically proven” strategic concepts as this goes beyond its powers.
CD&E methods could also be used for testing and validating EU mission and operational concepts. Mission and operational concepts are centred around mandates which describe what actually the mission / operation has to achieve. Mandates of concrete EU missions and operations could be tested and validated through well-established CD&E methods, such as exercises, modelling & simulation (M&S), wargaming, alternative analysis and operational analysis. CD&E can be applied most properly in the lessons learned phase. Lessons learned identified with the support of CD&E methods can be used in planning future EU missions and operations.
The project has produced 3 peer-reviewed articles, 8 research and administrative deliverables, 25 qualitative interviews, 3 Policy Briefs and 3 Business Briefs which provide an original and comprehensive analysis of Concept Development and Experimentation for EU conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Project results have been widely disseminated, making use of diverse communication means: the project’s website and twitter account, the PeaceTraining.eu platform, peer-reviewed journals, major international conferences and an industrial exhibition, presentations to students, one press release and one TV interview. The project’s dissemination and communication activities have been targeted specifically at the academia, policy-makers, ICT companies and research organizations. The project’s most exploitable result is the concept for an innovative CD&E tool for simulation in EU peacebuilding.
