Jaime Rico has joined Knowit as a business developer with a focus on the EU and NATO. After a long career in the defence sector, both as an officer and as a consultant, he now wants to strengthen cooperation between Swedish and European actors. In an interview with FSN, he talks about his new role, Knowit's international initiative, and collaboration within the defence industry.
1. What is your background?
Together with my parents and younger brother, I moved to Sweden 50 years ago from Chile. I grew up in Märsta, north of Stockholm. During my upbringing I was very active in activities such as football and playing the trumpet, both in Märsta and Sigtuna. In 1993/94 I completed my military service (värnplikt) at K4 in Arvidsjaur (northern Sweden) as a Ranger Group Commander, and since then defence and security issues have been a constant part of my working life.
2. Why did you choose to work in the defence sector?
My time in Arvidsjaur made the choice easy. Being able to work with people and develop together while contributing to Sweden's security gives me both humility and pride in my daily work. From Arvidsjaur, the path led to the Officer Programme, where I was admitted as a cadet on behalf of the Swedish Air Force (Flygvapnet) in Luleå (northern Sweden). Rather than leaving the service, I moved out to the coast of Norrbotten and began a preparatory officer course (förberedande officerskurs, FOK) run by the air force. I then attended the Officer Higher School (OHS) in 1994/96 in Halmstad and Uppsala. I left the uniform in 2001 and worked in telecoms until 2005, when I began as a defence consultant at ÅF. I am therefore celebrating my 20th anniversary as a consultant in the defence industry!
3. What attracted you to this role and to Knowit in particular?
Since 2021 I have been working more with information security, helping both private and public organisations to protect their data, that is, Data Centric Security. However, I felt I was a little too far removed from the core defence business. I have been part of the entire period of disarmament, but now that we need to rearm I realised I was sitting in the spectators' stand. I want to contribute to a strong defence across the Nordic region and Europe. After a number of dialogues with various companies in the sector, I ended up at Knowit. I had an incredibly strong gut feeling about the place. It is a company with very sound core values, where the leadership has done excellent work that has permeated the entire organisation.
4. What does your new position involve?
As a business developer with a focus on the EU and NATO, I will be working extensively with the European Defence Fund (EDF) and collaborations with Swedish and other European companies to win interesting EDF calls for proposals. The goal is also to become a supplier within NATO. I will also continue to work as a senior consultant, so I get to contribute both strategically and hands-on.
In broader terms, I will work together with colleagues to drive what we call the internationalisation of Knowit's defence business. Knowit is growing within the defence sector. We have considerable expertise in the field and long-standing collaborations with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten), among others. The natural next step, linked to the current security situation in the world, is to move into the EU and NATO. A successful defence requires increased cooperation between public and private actors and between countries. This is an area where we see that we can make a difference and contribute.
5. What is at the top of your agenda for the next six months?
Right now I am trying to learn everything we have in our toolbox at Knowit. With specialists in areas including high-technology software development, systems development, and management consulting, I have an exciting period ahead of me in which I see great potential. At the same time, I am creating collaborative frameworks in order to submit proposals in a couple of areas ahead of EDF 2025. I also look forward to upcoming assignments in business development, strategy work, and advisory services to management teams.
NDS has previously interviewed, among others, Johan Magnusson and Karin Swanson in this series. If you know someone who would be suitable for this interview series, or feel that you yourself would be a good fit, NDS can be reached at news@nordicdefencesector.com. Please mark the email "New in the job".