On New Approaches to Using Subsidies to Achieve Technological Sovereignty

INTRODUCTION. In the context of the profound transformation of international trade relations, there is a particular emphasis on the legal assessment of subsidies in both academic discourse and legal practice. As a tool of state economic policy, subsidies can have a significant impact on competition and market access, which makes their use subject to assessment in accordance with the international trade rules. The article considers subsidies as a complex legal phenomenon. On the one hand, they are a tool of state regulation used for various purposes, including achieving technological sovereignty. On the other hand, their universality raises the question of their appropriate legal form, as they continue to be an instrument of trade policy, industrial support, and technological development. Therefore, the article discusses cases from academic and expert legal literature related to issues of national security, technological sovereignty, and complex legal structures that may include subsidies, according to the author's opinion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The hypotheses of the article are based on the author's analysis of 26 different concepts of subsidies, which are used at international, regional, and national levels. Data from international institutions' reports have also been analyzed. Some institutions have their own definitions of subsidies to, for example, count them and prepare statistics on state support measures. While preparing the article, the author used a structural-semantic approach, incorporating elements of multi-criteria evaluation. This approach combines semantic decomposition, comparative law and mathematical analysis. The research has shown that each regulatory body gives its own meaning to the definition. However, it is a challenging task to identify this meaning, but it can be done through a combined methodological approach. The hypotheses of the article are based on the analysis of various approaches to the conceptualization of technological sovereignty and the role of subsidies as an instrument of state support that allows for asymmetrically damping the increasing pressure of AI in economic relationships.

RESEARCH RESULTS. The study showed that international trade rules developed within the WTO system consider subsidies from the position of the mechanism for their provision, recipient and distributor of support. However, much less attention is paid to the intended purpose of subsidies. Subsidies are considered only from the position of obtaining an advantage. That is why there is a need to adjust subsidy models. It is becoming fundamentally important to ensure rational subsidies aimed at the effective use of public resources, creating conditions for the development of modern technological production and meeting national goals for economic development.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The integrated use of subsidies, which is aimed not at achieving price advantages but at multitasking and achieving technological independence, can be seen as a new and innovative approach to using state funds. In this regard, regulation should be more flexible, and its rules should no longer be limited to specific sectors. Instead, they should be targeted at achieving the greatest beneficial management impact. Therefore, as the author suggests, the legal constructs describing the instruments of regulation can be seen as a flexible, rather than a rigid system, especially in the current technological era. It is important to consider the dynamism and interconnection of various legal norms and institutions. This will allow us to more effectively reflect the dynamics of social, political, and economic reality in regulatory matters.

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