Press release

Economic Security Forum opens Brussels office, led by former NATO Defence Economist Edward Hunter Christie

October 20, 2026

Europe is strengthening its policies on foreign investment, public procurement and critical raw materials. ESF has opened in Brussels to help companies and institutions adapt.

Helsinki and Brussels, 20 October 2026. Economic Security Forum (ESF), an independent Nordic geoeconomic advisory and analytics company, has opened a new office in Brussels, led by Dr. Edward Hunter Christie, formerly Defence Economist and Deputy Head of Innovation at NATO. The move places ESF alongside the EU institutions and NATO, where Europe’s economic security response is being designed. The Brussels office serves companies, investors and institutions in Belgium and across North-West Europe.

“For thirty years, European businesses and governments viewed interdependence as a source of opportunity, cost efficiency, and win-win cooperation. The world powers of today treat interdependence as a source of power. Europe is waking up to this harsher reality, and its response is being shaped in Brussels. That is why we are here,” said Dr. Mikael Wigell, Founder & CEO of ESF.

A new economic security environment

Europe’s economic security response is taking shape:

  • In March 2026 the European Commission proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act, which would introduce “Union origin” requirements in public procurement and support schemes for strategic sectors.
  • A revised EU foreign investment screening regulation entered into force in July 2026 and applies from January 2028, extending scrutiny to investments made through EU entities controlled by non-EU owners.
  • On 9 October 2026, the Commission selected 46 further Strategic Projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act, bringing the total number of such projects to 106.

In parallel, European states are boosting defence spending and pushing for greater autonomy in their defence and dual-use industries.

“Europe needs to graduate from traditional economic competitiveness to a wider concept of Strategic Competitiveness: a security-informed pursuit of long-term economic and industrial performance,” said Dr. Edward Hunter Christie, Managing Director North-West Europe at ESF.

What ESF does

Founded in 2025 by Dr. Mikael Wigell, ESF helps organisations assess and respond to geoeconomic risks. Its clients include listed companies, investors, financial institutions and public bodies in the Nordic countries and across Europe and the United States. Its services include leadership programmes for executives; scenario-based stress-testing of corporate strategy; deep-tier supply chain diagnostics; 360-degree geoeconomic risk assessments; continuous monitoring; and board-level advisory.

As ESF has found, companies are often more exposed than they may suspect. In one recent assessment for a European technology manufacturer, ESF mapped 4,703 factories across 2,380 suppliers. Publicly available supplier data pointed to 15% direct exposure to China for a critical input; three tiers upstream, the mapping found 85%.

ESF also runs the Nordic Economic Security Programme (NESPO), which brings together companies, national ministries and financial institutions from across the Nordic region and beyond.

ESF’s Corporate Response Tracker follows, day by day, how STOXX Europe 600 companies are investing in the US or pulling back from it since the April 2025 tariff announcement.

A young company with a long track record

ESF is new as a company, not as a team. Its people have worked where geoeconomic decisions are made and analysed: at NATO, the International Monetary Fund, the European Parliament, Nokia, the International Energy Agency, the OECD and the Atlantic Council. The core team works with an international network of 14 experts.

ENDS

Notes to editors

About the Economic Security Forum

The Economic Security Forum (ESF) is an independent geoeconomic advisory and analytics company with offices in Helsinki and Brussels. It connects what happens in geopolitics to what organisations should do about it, combining diagnostics, live intelligence and senior counsel for boards, investors and governments. ESF offers six services, all housed within its ESF Corporate Geoeconomic Framework. ESF also runs the Nordic Economic Security Programme (NESPO) for companies, national ministries and financial institutions.

Team

  • Dr. Mikael Wigell, Founder & CEO. Founded the geoeconomics research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in 2012 and has advised the European Parliament, the International Monetary Fund and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
  • Dr. Edward Hunter Christie, Managing Director North-West Europe. Formerly Defence Economist and Deputy Head of Innovation at NATO, where he worked on its economic security assessments and on its first Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geoeconomics.
  • Dr. Heiko Borchert, Head of Advisory Services. Has delivered more than 130 projects across defence, critical infrastructure and strategic industry since 1997.
  • Dr. Christian Fjäder, Head of Research. Led risk and resilience functions at Nokia and policy planning at Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency.
  • Antti Rauhala, Chief Operating Officer. Comes from the International Energy Agency and the OECD.
  • Henri Vanhanen, Senior Advisor. Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Fact sheet

Spokespeople

  • Dr. Mikael Wigell, Founder & CEO. Interviews in English, Finnish, Swedish.
  • Dr. Edward Hunter Christie, Managing Director North-West Europe. Interviews in English, French, German.

Media assets

Portrait photographs of Dr. Mikael Wigell and Dr. Edward Hunter Christie (black and white, and colour editorial), portraits of the core team and the ESF logo are available from the media contacts below.

Sources

Media contacts

Dr. Edward Hunter Christie, Managing Director North-West Europe · christie@econsecforum.org · +32 491 16 21 70

Dr. Mikael Wigell, Founder & CEO · wigell@econsecforum.org · +358 40 583 1371

Max Nyman, Head of Growth Operations · nyman@econsecforum.org · +358 40 512 8989

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