Turn geoeconomic challenges into opportunity.
Brussels sits where Europe's industry, the EU institutions and NATO meet. From our office here, the Economic Security Forum (ESF) helps companies and institutions read and respond to the geoeconomic forces reshaping their operations.
One firm, working from Brussels and Helsinki
We opened our Brussels office in 2026 to put ESF where Europe's economic security debate takes shape. Dr. Edward Hunter Christie leads the office and our work in North-West Europe, working with our Helsinki team and our wider network of experts to deliver our full range of services. Wherever you start the conversation, you benefit from the full capabilities and service offering of the ESF team.
Dr. Edward Hunter Christie
Managing Director North-West Europe at the Economic Security Forum, leading its engagements in the region from the Brussels office. A scholar-practitioner in geoeconomics, economic security, and defence, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geoeconomics.
Former Research Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Co-author of The Age of Geoeconomics (Bloomsbury).
130+ public and private sector projects since 1997, across defence, energy, food and agriculture, and logistics and MRO.
Led risk and resilience at Nokia; Director, Policy, Planning and Analysis at Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency.
Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center and a regular commentator in the Financial Times and The Economist.
Competitiveness, security and resilience move together, and much of that conversation happens in Brussels. Companies and institutions that understand where Europe is heading can position early and future-proof their operations.
Close to where Europe decides
We follow European debates as they take shape, from industrial policy and investment to trade and security. We give our clients an early read on where Europe is heading and what it means for them.
From resilience to competitiveness
The globalised economy is fragmenting. Knowing your dependencies is a necessary starting point. The bigger opportunities come from knowing where to invest in today’s more contested landscape.
The whole firm in every engagement
Work out of Brussels draws on everything ESF has: our research and advisory teams, our wider network of experts and the framework that sits under all our services.
Six services, one framework
Six services on one framework, the ESF Corporate Geoeconomic Framework. Each stands on its own, so start with the question in front of you.
Geoeconomic Leadership Programme
Gives your leadership team a shared view of the forces reshaping its markets.
Supply Chain Exposure Assessment
Finds the dependencies several tiers below what your own supplier data shows.
Geoeconomic Moat Assessment
Measures how defensible your position is when governments set the terms.
Geoeconomic Fitness Test
Tests whether your strategy holds across materially different geoeconomic futures.
Continuous Monitoring
Alerts you when risk shifts at a dependency we have already mapped for you.
Strategic Advisory
Turns what we find into decisions, through board and executive briefings, scenario work and policy deep dives.
Questions we help boards answer
Most of our work begins with one of these. Pick the one closest to yours and we will show you where we would start.
Which of our suppliers could fall inside a future EU or US restriction?
Who really owns our key suppliers, and what will the new EU screening rules ask about them?
Should we invest more in the US, and what are our peers actually doing?
Does our strategy still hold if trade policy changes direction again?
Where could Europe’s new industrial and investment priorities give us an edge over our competitors?
Which European companies are investing in the US, and which are pulling back?
The Corporate Response Tracker follows STOXX Europe 600 companies as they invest in the US or pull back from it, starting from the US tariff announcement of April 2025. Every entry links to its public source.
The same data powers Continuous Monitoring, our service that alerts you when risk shifts at a dependency we have already mapped for you.
See how comparable companies in your sector are repositioning, based on what they have announced rather than on commentary.
Set a planned investment, sourcing change or market entry against what peers have announced.
Bring sourced entries to the boardroom when transatlantic exposure is on the agenda.
I personally think that the entire NATO region should be an area of free trade, an integrated transatlantic economy which strengthens not only our prosperity, but also our collective security.
We see a revival of Nordic cooperation, and this is a great opportunity. Strong dialogue on strategic investments is needed for a more resilient future.
Recent analysis from our team
The research we publish is the same thinking we bring to client work.
Trump's tariffs: Ushering in a new age of aggressive strategic capitalism
The new US tariff regime marks a turn to state-directed economic policy built on strategic self-sufficiency, with consequences for global trade and for alliances.
The geoeconomic security dilemma
Does the security dilemma, a core idea of security studies, also apply to economic policy? A short read on why one state's economic security measures can leave its partners less secure.
Measuring geoeconomic power: An index for 41 major economies
An index of geoeconomic power for 41 major economies, 2010 to 2022. The United States leads and its advantage over the EU is growing, while China's economic reach expands fast.
Talk to our Brussels team
Tell us what you are weighing: a decision, an exposure, a question from the board. A few lines are enough. You do not need a brief or a budget yet, only the question. A senior member of our team reads every enquiry, and from there it takes three steps.
A senior member of our team reviews your enquiry.
If there is a fit, we suggest a call to understand the question and its context.
A scoped approach, with a clear view of what you would get.
Enquiries are shared only with the people at ESF who need to see them.
Find us in Brussels
In the city centre next to Brussels Central Station, between the Grand Place and the Royal Quarter.
Economic Security Forum (Belgium), Belgian branch of Economic Security Forum Ab (Finland, Business ID 3525455-3)
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