Top Nordic business schools launch security collaboration

Two of the Nordic region’s leading business schools, the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen, have joined forces to launch a strategic collaboration on security and resilience.

The initiative stems from a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape in which European democracies are facing increasing uncertainty and a need to strengthen investments in defence and preparedness.

“In a time of geopolitical uncertainty, it is crucial that investments in security and preparedness are built on a solid knowledge base. Here, together with our Swedish partners, we can play an important role in Nordic cooperation,” Helge Thorbjørnsen, rector of NHH, said in a press release on 21 April.

A four-year memorandum of understanding, which cements the partnership involving the new Security and Resilience Initiative at NHH and the Center for Security and Resilience (CfSR) established at SSE last year, was signed in Stockholm in March.

The main thematic areas of the initiative include: governance and control in security and defence contexts; cross-sectoral cooperation and innovation; and geopolitics, economics and societal resilience.

Joint research

The collaboration will include joint research projects, applications for external funding, academic publications and leadership training for decision-makers in the public and private sectors.

“The partnership underlines SSE's role in addressing complex societal challenges through research, education and collaboration across the Nordic region,” Lars Strannegård, president of SSE, said.

Katarina Kaarbøe, professor and head of the Security and Resilience Initiative at NHH, emphasised the importance of connecting academic insights with practical challenges.

“Security and resilience are not just about military capacity but about how societies, businesses, public institutions and leaders organise, govern and interact under uncertainty,” she said.

By combining the strengths of NHH and SSE, the goal is to develop research that is both of a high academic level and directly relevant to decision-makers and practitioners.

The partnership brings together a more established Swedish research environment with a rapidly expanding Norwegian initiative, creating a strong platform for joint development across research, education, and executive training, the press release said.

The Security and Resilience Initiative at NHH currently conducts 15 research projects grouped under three main research themes: management and control, innovation, collaboration and organisational adaptability; and geopolitical economics and societal resilience.

At SSE, the CfSR serves as a neutral, interdisciplinary platform bringing together academia, government, business, and civil society. The collaboration with NHH will reinforce the Nordic dimension of the centre’s work and support joint ambitions at both national and European levels.

Defence-focused MBA

Meanwhile, the SSE is partnering with the Swedish Armed Forces to launch the SSE Nordic Defense MBA for decision-makers shaping the future of the Nordic defence sector, starting in the fall of 2026, according to a press release on 24 April.

The SSE Nordic Defense MBA is an executive MBA which will prepare senior leaders across the Nordic region to navigate an increasingly complex security environment and strengthen collaboration between the public and private sectors, the press release said.

“It is not enough to be strong on the battlefield; we must also be strong in how we lead, organise, and cooperate across society as a whole. This programme is an important step in developing the leadership required to integrate military capability with civilian structures and the capacity of the private sector.

“That is how we build a robust total defence and strengthen our collective resilience in the Nordic region,” Sweden’s Chief of Defence, Michael Claesson, is quoted as saying.

The curriculum for the defence MBA builds on SSE’s established Executive MBA and leads to an internationally recognised degree. It runs for 16 months and combines intensive on-campus weeks in Stockholm with work between modules. Participants work closely together in an environment that reflects real-world challenges in defence and security.

“Today, competitiveness and resilience are two sides of the same coin. The security of Sweden and the Nordic region depends on our ability to keep society running – even under pressure. As a social science institution, we aim to contribute knowledge and leadership that strengthen both,” Strannegård is quoted as saying.

A central part of the MBA is to build and strengthen networks between the public sector, industry, and defence – ensuring that key relationships and channels for collaboration are in place when rapid decisions and transitions are required.

Participants are expected to come from the armed forces and other total defence actors, the defense industry, and relevant government agencies across the Nordic region.

Societal resilience

Strannegård told University World News Sweden and its Nordic neighbours had, over the past few years, increased military investment and rearmament as well as a strengthened cooperation within NATO.

“This calls for expertise not only in defence technology but also in how organisations are led, scaled, and collaborated in times of rapid change. A country’s resilience depends on how well society functions under pressure.

“Understanding and securing supply chains, maintaining production, and ensuring that logistics work effectively are examples of how defence capability can be built,” he said.

“Research-based knowledge in these areas cannot be generated in isolation, so teaming up with a strong academic institution like NHH is a way to generate high-quality social science.”

Hans Liwång, visiting professor in naval architecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and professor of systems science for defence and security at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm, told University World News initiatives such as that between NHH and SSE can lead to important research at the intersection of defence and societal development.

"The need for research on security and resilience in the intersection between defence development and societal development is large. That has been the case at least since the security changes in Europe in 2014 because of the Russian annexation of Crimea and the subsequent increases in defence spending in several European states.

“However, the research on topics related to security and resilience that have links to defence development is still relatively rare. For me, diverse research on such topics is much more important than more strategic initiatives.

“There is a risk that these strategic initiatives primarily please politicians and don’t really strengthen the conditions for important research,” he said.

Mats Benner, a professor in science policy studies at Lund University’s School of Economics and Management and past member of the Swedish government’s Research Advisory Board (2009 to 2010, 2015 to 2016), said that dual use had been all the rage in research policy for some time.

“It is not surprising that it also entices business schools with their expertise in management, logistics and strategy,” he added.

“Prima facie, the relevance and synergistic effects are evident, but the dual-use terrain is not uncomplicated, especially not in areas with little experience of collaboration with defence.

“However, these two august business schools seem well positioned to strike the balance between engagement and integrity, paving the way for others wanting to contribute to societal resilience,” Benner noted.

A ‘renewed relationship’

Professor Emeritus of Higher Education Dr Marijk van der Wende, based at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, said the announcement of the launch of Nordic collaboration on security and resilience reminded her of a discussion in Munich in November 2022.

“In my lecture to the League of European Research Universities (LERU) rectors’ assembly on the impact of geopolitical developments on higher education institutions, I talked about the renewed relationship between academia and the military and its implications for higher education, its inhabitants, core tasks, and academic freedom.

“In the ensuing discussion, this relationship, including the position of military academies in the higher education system, turned out to be more common in certain countries than in others – Sweden, France and Belgium are examples of the former, while the Dutch colleagues seemed more surprised. In fact, at that time, the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) was hardly known in the university sector.

“Indeed, the Faculty of Military Sciences (FMW) of the NLDA has only become a network member of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) as of 1 March 2026,” she said.

Van der Wende said: “This diversity in experience and cognitive distance (or even dissonance) should not hinder collaboration in this new area. It can actually bear fruit, as universities in many countries are now discussing how to position themselves in relation to national security and defense initiatives.

“Security, defence and resilience are European concerns. An EU agenda is unfolding and includes both opportunities and dilemmas for our sector.

“Apart from available funding for defence-related R&D, this is a call for social contribution and collaboration for joint discussions at the European level on how to realise impact while avoiding mission creep and standing firmly for our moral foundations, ethical codes, and our pledge to truth, openness, and academic freedom.”