Building resilience through learning across sectors

The challenge 

Modern crises rarely affect just one organisation or sector. Disruptions to transport, digital systems or critical infrastructure can have consequences elsewhere, while developments in areas such as AI and cybersecurity add new dimensions to preparedness.

Addressing these interconnected challenges requires expertise from different fields and an understanding of how decisions and events in one area can affect others. 

The solution 

Expert Learning Lab and WARA Public Safety created Community of Practice Resilience Sweden, bringing together experts from academia, industry and the public sector to learn across organisational and disciplinary boundaries.

Starting in November 2025, the participants met for ten sessions focused on resilience. Topics included AI, cybersecurity, cascading effects, fire, transport, infrastructure and preparedness.

The final two sessions focused specifically on preparedness. In the concluding session, held during WARA PS Demo Week in September 2026, participants worked with a scenario in which NATO was at war and Sweden had become a key transit country.

Following an introduction by Mats-Uno Runesson from the Swedish Armed Forces, participants worked in teams to discuss possible courses of action and priorities in response to the developing situation. 

The outcome 

Over ten sessions, Community of Practice Resilience Sweden created a shared learning environment for experts representing different sectors, organisations and areas of expertise.

The concluding scenario exercise brought together several of the perspectives explored throughout the programme. Participants had to consider how different systems and organisations interact in a complex crisis and discuss possible responses from multiple perspectives.

The initiative is also a concrete example of how Expert Learning Lab works with collaborative learning: bringing experts together around real and complex challenges, enabling them to exchange knowledge and experience across traditional organisational boundaries.