Border Profiteers
The Border Profiteers List is a database compiling companies which are involved with and profiting from the European border system. The fortification and externalisation of borders is not only driven by political interests but also by being a source of profit for an array of different companies from producers of surveillance equipment and weapons to concrete and food distribution for camps, consultant companies and research facilities.
The Border Profiteers List is a non-exhaustive and growing resource for civil society actors, researchers and activists. An online form to submit contributions to this list will be available here shortly.
As the Border Profiteers List relies on open and public sources we make no warranties about the completeness of information provided in this list. We also do not assume any legal liability or responsibility for outdated, incorrect, or incomplete information. However, we will address reports of outdated, incorrect, or incomplete information as quickly as possible.
A large proportion of the entries is based on research by the Informationsstelle Militarisierung (Information Centre for Militarisation).
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| Registered office | Austria - Vienna |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
The Austrian Institute of Technology, headquartered in Vienna, is the successor organisation to the Austrian Study Society for Atomic Energy. On Wikipedia, AIT is described as one of the largest non-university research institutions in Austria, giving the impression that it is a public institution. In its web presence, however, AIT presents itself as a company and in fact it is a limited liability company with several "subsidiaries", only 50.46% are owned by the state. The rest of the shares are held by the "Association for the Promotion of Research and Innovation" of the Federation of Austrian Industries.
Read more| Registered office | Türkiye - Ankara |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
Aselsan is one of the most important quasi-state owned Turkish arms companies and produces mainly electronic components for the core Turkish weapons systems. In the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in autumn 2020, which was fought mainly with combat drones, weapon systems from Aselsan were also used by Azerbaijan and are said to have contributed significantly to its victory.
Read more| Registered office | France - Ramonville-Saint-Agne |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
The company CLS began in the 1980s as a service provider for global communication and localisation services and has since specialised more and more in satellite-based Earth observation, especially of oceans and inland waters (among other things through strategic acquisitions worldwide). In a (as of May 2021) current image film entitled "For Earth From Space", "Mother Nature" herself puts a three-minute text to humanity into the mouth, according to which the services of CLS would not only protect nature and the environment, but also save people in wars and disasters. Among other things, it says, "They [CLS] stand by you …
Read more| Registered office | Germany - München-Taufkirchen |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
In 2017, Airbus spun off its electronics division as Hensoldt. Since 2020, Hensoldt has been a stock corporation. The shares are held by Leonardo (25.1%), KKR & Co (17.9%), among others. The FRG holds a blocking minority of 25.1%, which is managed by the Ministry of Defense. In fact, however, the Airbus and Hensoldt companies remained partially inextricably linked, even geographically. Hensoldt is considered the world's leading supplier of military sensor and radar technology, which the company also offers for border protection. On its homepage (as of July 2022), the company writes: "Our security solutions are well suited to monitor …
Read more| Registered office | Germany - Berlin-Adlershof |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in the Adlershof Technology Park in Berlin, IQ Wireless offers on its homepage the installation and support of directional radio networks, as well as terrestrial early fire detection and satellite communication solutions. For a company with (according to its own information) about 30-35 employees, IQ Wireless was and is involved in relatively high-profile research projects.
Read more| Registered office | Croatia - Zagreb |
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| Categories | infrastructure |
King ICT is one of the most important Croatian system houses. For a while, it belonged to the Croatian "MAN S" group, which has a total of around 1,500 employees (as of November 2020). King's portfolio is broad and ranges from digital classrooms to cloud and (HR) management services for companies, to traffic monitoring in cities ? for example in Zagreb, where the company is based. King ICT has other branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia and is trying to establish itself as a leading service provider for authorities in the entire region. It also …
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