Competitive intelligence is of major strategic importance. It lies at the very heart of the competitiveness challenges facing national economies. Knowledge of the geopolitical, economic, technical and legislative environment is a significant competitive advantage that must be exploited to protect organisations against the risks of intrusion, acquisition, manipulation and looting.

Since 1996, the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN) has been training public and private sector executives in the concepts, methods, issues and tools of strategic intelligence and economic security. As a public institution reporting to the Prime Minister, the IHEDN enjoys institutional recognition.

IHEDN offers two types of training:

• 7-day "Economic and Strategic Intelligence" cycles: With 49 hours of training, these cycles cover the major themes of EI, including economic security, intelligence and OSINT, cybersecurity, ethics and compliance, as well as influence and lobbying.
• 2-day IE cycles: 14 hours of training, these cycles provide an insight into an EI theme.