About Us
Mare Balticum Institute for Cooperation and Strategy (MBICS), also known as the Mare Balticum Institute, is an independent think tank founded in 2025 as a civil society initiative. It is dedicated to research, analysis, and fostering dialogue on international relations, security policy, regional cooperation and geostrategic affairs.
MBICS is built on the conviction that informed debate and constructive cooperation are essential for strengthening peace, stability and resilience of the Baltic Sea region. By relying on open-source intelligence, independent scholarship, and expert networking, Mare Balticum Institute aims to provide policy recommendations and contribute to opinion-shaping at both national and international levels.
Our Mission
Mare Balticum Institute’s mission is to enhance security, cooperation, and strategic foresight in the Baltic Sea region, which is ever more central to Europe’s evolving security architecture.
We emphasize practical policy solutions, innovative research and dialogue that bridges governments, academia and civil society. By connecting regional perspectives with global strategic trends, the Institute aims to strengthen resilience, promote shared values and build a framework for security and sustainable prosperity. Facing increasing geopolitical challenges, MBICS works also to foster collaboration among middle powers, such as Poland and Sweden, while also engaging partners across Europe, the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.
Our Vision
Mare Balticum Institute envisions increased regionalization of the countries around the Baltic Sea driven by cooperation in specific sectors — including economics, industry, defense and technology — and a commitment to collective security founded on common threat perception and shared interests. By bringing together experts, scholars, policymakers and practitioners, we strive to create a practical platform for cooperation that not only addresses short-term security imperatives, but also sets foundations for forging the region's long-term strategy.
Through rigorous analysis and independent expertise, MBICS ensures that the Baltic Sea region states remain active and agentic contributors to the evolving global order.
Our Focus
Regional Security
We emphasize the urgent need for deeper European and transregional defence cooperation. In light of the shifting U.S. presence in Europe, regional actors must take greater responsibility for their own security. MBICS focuses on building strategic agency, strengthening defense alliances, and promoting collective security mechanisms in the Baltic Sea region.
Geopolitics
The Institute recognizes Russia as the defining threat to the region, focusing its work on examining deterrence, escalation management strategies, and the development of regional military and infrastructural capabilities. At the same time, MBICS explores broader patterns of strategic alignment and identifies opportunities to foster regional networks of cooperation built on shared interests.
Middle Power Cooperation
We highlight the growing role of middle powers, such as Poland and Sweden, in shaping European security dynamics. By colaborating in crucial and mutually beneficent fields, aligning strategic priorities and building durable partnerships, the middle powers can safeguard regional stability and greatly contribute to a more secure European order.
Technology
Sustainable security requires investment in technological innovation. MBICS emphasizes the strategic importance of emerging technologies — including dual-use systems, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, and space technologies — in safeguarding the Baltic Sea region. In a landscape shaped by rapid innovation, regional actors must strengthen technological resilience, reduce dependencies, and leverage innovation for both civilian and defense applications. MBICS explores ways to harness and leverage technological expertise, strengthen regional defence and technological sovereignty.
Industry & Infrastructure
We highlight the critical importance of reinforcing the industrial base of the Baltic Sea region. In a context of global supply chain disruptions, regional actors must ensure the continuity, security, and adaptability of their key industries. MBICS focuses on enhancing industrial capacity, protecting critical infrastructure, and fostering innovation to build a resilient economic and technological ecosystem that sustains the region’s security and prosperity.
Total Defence
In a world where military and civilian domains increasingly overlap, we recognize that strengthening defense capacities must go hand in hand with building societal resilience. MBICS therefore emphasizes the role of education, civil preparedness programs, and community engagement in making societies stronger, more adaptable, and capable of withstanding both conventional and unconventional threats.
Economics
MBICS acknowledges that sustained economic growth and sound public finances form the backbone of any grand strategy. History has shown that economic powerhouses are the actors that dominate geopolitics. A key driver of economic growth is innovation, and MBICS emphasises that countries of the Baltic Sea region must cooperate to foster innovation in their economies. An economy that fails to innovate will lose its competitiveness in global markets and face a long-term decline in prosperity.
Global Connectivity
While rooted in the Baltic Sea region, MBICS operates with a global outlook. We foster dialogue and cooperation with partners in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the Black Sea region, United States and selected Asian countries, whose advanced technological capabilities, aligned interests and shared values are critical to the future of global security.
Goals
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Deliverables
Our work is built around a set of core deliverables, which can be divided into 3 categories:
Analysis
Our analyses aim to support evidence-based policy-making. They can be divided into reports, articles and opinions. Reports constitute a longer text form - objective, thorough and data-driven insights into specific domains. Articles are shorter texts about more concise topics. Opinion pieces meanwhile are subjective texts reflecting viewpoints of our individual Members or contributors.
Events
The Institute's work is not limited to just research and publications. MBICS organizes discussion panels and meetings with experts, as well as various types of simulation exercises, such as wargames. They allow participants to test strategic assumptions, explore policy responses and better understand decision-making in crisis situations. Through there events we seek to bridge academic insights with practical policy application.
Youth exchanges & projects
Recognizing the importance of nurturing the next generation of young leaders, we deal with youth-oriented initiatives that promote cross-cultural understanding and cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. Youth exchanges and other projects of similar nature are a perfect way of building mutual understanding, stronger regional ties and empowering emerging voices in foreign and security policy.
Geography
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Regulations of the Mare Balticum Institute
Below you will find regulatory statute of MBICS, in both Polish and English language versions.
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