Senior Fellow, Defence and Security
Heiko Borchert directs Borchert Consulting and Research AG, a consulting boutique focusing on strategic affairs. He is Co-Director of the Defense AI Observatory, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg, and Partner with the Helsinki-based Economic Security Forum. Since 1997 he has been working on a diverse set of issues like armaments policy and armaments cooperation, critical infrastructure protection, defense exports, defense-related science and technology, energy and resource supply security, ecosystems in strategic industries, hybrid threats, maritime security, geostrategic and geoeconomic risks, and public-private security cooperation. Heiko Borchert sits on the advisory board of the Zeitschrift für Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik, Law and Geoeconomics, and The Defence Horizon Journal.
Publications:
- “Ambivalent Acceleration: War, Battlefield Deployment, and Money Push Defense AI But Fundamental Questions Remain Unresolved,” in Frank Schmiedchen et al. (eds.), Living with AI – State, Applications and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence (Berlin: Springer, forthcoming)
- (with Mikael Wigell) “Your Company Needs a Geoeconomic Moat,” fDI Intelligence, 27 January 2026
- “Athena’s Shield Is Brittle: Why and How NATO Needs to Get Serious About Economic Warfare”, in Greg Kennedy (ed.), Economic Warfare in the 21st Century. Are the UK, NATO, and EU fit to Fight? (Cham: Springer Nature, 2025), pp. 137-161
- Bonds That Separate. Defense AI in the Arab Gulf States (Hamburg: DAIO, 2025)
- (with Christian Brandlhuber) His Hands Can’t Hit What His Eyes Can’t See. Emergent AI Tactics for Successful Operations in the Air Littoral (Hamburg: Defense AI Observatory, 2024)
- (with Torben Schütz and Joseph Verbovszky) The Very Long Game. 25 Case Studies on the Global State of Defense AI (Cham: Springer Nature, 2024)
- (with Torben Schütz and Joseph Verbovszky) Adaptive Portfolio. Catalyzing NATO’s Performance Through Innovation (Bratislava/Prague: GLOBSEC, 2022)
- “New Geoeconomics: A Primer,” in Johann Strobl and Heiko Borchert (eds.), Storms Ahead. The Future Geoeconomic World Order (Vienna: Raiffeisen Bank International, 2021), 16-35
- Flow Control Rewrites Globalization. Implications for Business and Investors (Dubai: HEDGE21/Alcazar Capital, 2019)
