Report from People and Defense 2025: Leadership and resilience in focus

SME-D recently participated in the People and Defense National Conference in Sälen, where over 400 participants gathered to discuss Sweden's defense and security in an uncertain world. With this year's theme, "Leadership and governance for resilience," we particularly highlighted the crucial role of small and medium-sized enterprises in strengthening the country's defense capabilities and resilience.

The conference focused on issues such as Sweden's NATO membership, innovation and civil defence. With a defence budget that has increased by 300 % since 2020, the importance of technological advances in areas such as AI and cyber defence, as well as collaboration between civil and military actors, was highlighted. At the same time, the need for faster decision-making processes and cultural changes to meet today's security challenges was emphasized.

Our Chairman Jaime Rico and Vice Chairman Andreas Nilsson were on site and participated in discussions with both Swedish and international stakeholders, including the Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defense. We discussed how innovation, investment and leadership can create the conditions for growth and a stronger defense industry.

Key insights and lessons learned from the conference:

Innovation requires the courage to experiment, fail and try again - a key to success according to RISE.
Criticism was directed at slow processes in the defense sector – faster decisions and cultural changes are crucial.
Marcus Wallenberg emphasized the connection between innovation, security and competitiveness.
Civil-military collaborations and clearer strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises are needed to meet future security challenges.
Faster integration with NATO and clear action plans are critical to strengthening Sweden's defense capabilities.
FOI's researchers summarized: "The defense is more afraid of the auditor than of the Russian."”

We have produced a comprehensive report from the conference which you can read here: Report National Conference 2025

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