SDA Bocconi launches SHIELD, first European hub on defence, economics and geopolitics

SDA Bocconi School of Management announces the launch of SHIELD - Strategic Hub for Integrated Education on Leadership & Defence, the first academic hub in the European Union dedicated to the study of the interconnections between defence, security, economics, finance, industry and geopolitics, with a specific focus on the strategic implications for the country system and for the European and international context.
SHIELD aims to be a space for research, analysis and debate on the major challenges that link security, economics and development in the new global context, adopting an integrated and multidisciplinary perspective. SHIELD's mission is to develop advanced models of analysis and intervention in complex contexts, in line with the geopolitical, technological and organisational transformations that are sweeping the country-system.

The centre's activities focus on three major directions: the impact of hybrid threats on finance, industry and value chains; the economic and financial implications of growing geopolitical instability for Italy and Europe; and the role of finance in strategic and infrastructural investments to strengthen the country's economic and industrial resilience.
"SHIELD's research perimeter takes shape from the major transformations that are redefining the global order: the emergence of hybrid threats, the growing centrality of economic security, the vulnerability of strategic supply chains, the need to strengthen industrial resilience, and the role of finance - public and private - as a lever not only for efficiency, but also for the protection of critical assets," says Carlo Altomonte, director of SHIELD.
"The launch of SHIELD," explains the dean of SDA Bocconi, Stefano Caselli, "reinforces our positioning as a school of management, capable of observing and managing the interrelationships between sectors that do not only include business. The continental scope of the initiative also reaffirms our European DNA."

SHIELD was presented today, Monday 19 January 2026, in an inaugural ceremony under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The day brings together authoritative representatives from political, military and diplomatic institutions, industry and academia, offering an opportunity for qualified debate on the emerging challenges for the security, defence and competitiveness of Italy and Europe.