SHIELD
SHIELD is the research and strategic training center of SDA Bocconi School of Management, dedicated to national security, interinstitutional leadership, and systemic resilience.
Target
The center was established through the synergy between academia, institutions, and industry, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and with the collaboration of the Ministry of Defense.
Changes in the geopolitical landscape that require greater investment in security, rapid technological developments in the military and dual-use domains with a dramatic shortening of innovation time to market, and the emergence of hybrid forms of confrontation with third countries all call for the development of strategic thinking capacity. This means the intellectual ability to define realistic objectives, align ends and means with appropriate leadership, anticipate adversaries, and adapt to uncertainty.
SHIELD’s mission is therefore to develop advanced models of analysis and intervention in complex contexts, in line with the geopolitical, technological, and organizational transformations affecting the national system.
Actitivies
In particular, SHIELD aims to:
Strengthen the state’s strategic capacity
Enhance strategic, analytical, and decision-making capabilities through advanced training and research activities in the strategic and geopolitical fields. SHIELD seeks to develop skills that enable the interpretation of complex environments, the anticipation of threats, and the training of leadership groups capable of adapting to uncertainty and guiding decision-making processes in hybrid and multilevel scenarios.
Promote leadership and interministerial and industrial coordination
Encourage integration among national institutions through stronger interministerial coordination, extending structured dialogue to major industrial players operating in the security sector. The goal is to build an ecosystem in which public and private actors cooperate on a stable basis around national priorities for security and innovation.
Enable national industry and develop relevant industrial value chains
Support companies’ ability to engage more effectively with security policies by contributing to the development of dual-use technologies, operational frameworks, and data governance models. This includes promoting supply chain integration and technology transfer to small and medium-sized enterprises, in order to ensure resilience, innovation capacity, and reduced external dependencies in critical sectors.
Build a new integrated culture of security, including at the international level
Promote a national and European culture of security focused on strategic autonomy, the resilience of critical infrastructures, and public-private integration, positioning SHIELD as one of the reference actors within multilateral cooperation networks on security issues (EU, NATO, G7).
