MC02 - Leading Sustainable Innovation in the AI-Cybersecurity Nexus 

Examines the strategic integration of AI and cybersecurity to support sustainable innovation, trust, and organisational resilience.

Credits

7.5 ECTS

Semester

1 Semester

Delivery

Online

Duration

13 weeks

Language

English

About This Course

This is a first-semester course in the MBA in Advanced Cybersecurity Technologies &
Governance
This course examines how organisations can lead sustainable innovation at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. As AI increasingly shapes digital operations, it creates both new defensive capabilities and new sources of cyber risk that demand strategic, not purely technical, responses. The course equips students with the frameworks and leadership skills needed to design responsible AI governance, manage adversarial and operational risks, and make informed investment and innovation decisions under regulatory and societal pressure. Emphasis is placed on trust, accountability, sustainability, and long-term value creation, enabling participants to translate complex AI–cyber challenges into coherent strategies that align innovation, security, and organisational responsibility.

What You Will Learn


AI–Cybersecurity Convergence

  • Strategic relationship between artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
  • Opportunities for AI-enabled cyber defence and automation
  • Risks such as adversarial AI, deepfakes, and model manipulation


Responsible AI Governance & Regulation

  • Governance models for managing AI risk and accountability
  • EU and global regulatory frameworks shaping AI and cybersecurity
  • Transparency, explainability, and trust in AI-enabled systems


Sustainable Innovation & Digital Resilience

  • Sustainable innovation principles applied to AI security technologies

  • Economic, environmental, and operational considerations in AI adoption

  • Societal impacts of AI-driven cyber threats and digital manipulation

Your 13-Week Journey

Here’s how your learning unfolds

Week 1 –  AI–cyber convergence: strategy, opportunity, and risk

How AI strengthens cyber defence while introducing new strategic risks and vulnerabilities.

Week 2 –  Responsible innovation and sustainability in digital transformation 

How sustainability, ESG expectations, and responsibility shape AI and cybersecurity decisions.

Week 3 –  Executive AI governance models (risk-based governance models) 

Designing risk-based governance models across the AI lifecycle.

Week 4 –AI threats and adversarial risk (executive-level understanding)

Understanding AI-enabled attacks and their impact on trust, fraud, and operations.

Week 5 –  AI for cyber defence: automation and augmentation

Using AI responsibly to automate and augment security operations.

Week 6 – Operations Management (Product & MLOps): SecurebyDesign AI, Model Risk Governance, and Production Guardrails

Operating AI securely through MLOps controls, monitoring, and production guardrails.

Week 7 – Financial Management & Operations (Sustainability): Economics of Sustainable AI Security—TCO, Energy/CO₂, and Procurement

Managing cost, energy, carbon impact, and procurement in AI security investments.

Week 8 – Marketing & Financial Management (Venture Design): AICyber Business Models, Pricing Architecture, and Ecosystem Strategy

Building business models, pricing strategies, and trustworthy market positioning.

Week 9 –Assurance, certification, and conformity assessment mindset

Ensuring data governance, auditability, and compliance readiness.

Week 10 –  Cybersecurity for AI infrastructure (cloud, supply chain, platform risk)

Managing cloud, platform, and supply-chain risks in AI environments.

Week 11 – Organisational operating models for AI-enabled cybersecurity

Designing structures and processes for defensible AI-enabled cybersecurity.

Week 12 – Societal impacts: misinformation, manipulation, and democratic resilience

Addressing misinformation, manipulation, and organisational responsibility.

Week 13 – Capstone: Sustainable AI–cyber strategy and innovation pitch

Presenting an integrated, executive-ready sustainable AI–cyber strategy.


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Skills You Will Gain

AI-Driven Cybersecurity Strategy

  • Evaluating AI-cyber innovation opportunities and investment decisions
  • Designing governance frameworks for AI-enabled cybersecurity systems
  • Translating AI risk scenarios into strategic recommendations

Secure-by-Design AI Governance

  • Developing AI lifecycle governance models and monitoring systems
  • Designing resilience strategies against adversarial AI threats
  • Creating auditability, transparency, and compliance plans for AI systems

Sustainable Innovation & Venture Design

  • Building business models for AI-cybersecurity solutions
  • Integrating sustainability metrics, lifecycle costs, and compliance into technology strategies
  • Communicating innovation proposals to executive stakeholders and regulators

Week 1 — Systems in Transition

See the world in systems.
Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.

Week 2 — The Digital–Circular Nexus

Discover how tech enables sustainability.
Explore how AI, IoT, and data power circular innovation.

Week 3 — Policy as Infrastructure

Understand Europe’s circular blueprint.
Dive into the EU Green Deal, CEAP, and Digital Europe frameworks.

Week 4 — Designing for Re-entry

Design for durability, reuse, and remanufacturing.
Learn how digital twins and simulation tools extend product lifecycles.

Week 5 — Tracking Resources Through Data

Follow materials in motion.
Understand how IoT and data infrastructures create transparency in supply chains.

Week 6 — Blockchain for Accountability

Trust through transparency.
Explore blockchain’s potential for tracking, verification, and ethical assurance.

Week 7 — Learning Loops with AI

Let data drive regeneration.
See how AI and machine learning enable adaptive circular decision-making.

Week 8 — Cognitive Factories

Meet the new industrial symbiosis.
Examine how robotics and smart manufacturing create circular production systems.

Week 9 — Reverse Intelligence

Close the loop through recovery.
Explore reverse logistics, digital disassembly, and resource recovery networks.

Week 10 — Measuring Circularity

Turn data into progress.
Use metrics, KPIs, and dashboards to track circular performance.

Week 11 — Financing the Regenerative Future

Empower innovation.
Discover how deep-tech, investment, and valuation models support circular ventures.

Week 12 — Ethics and Mindsets

Lead with responsibility.
Reflect on ethics, human–machine collaboration, and the competences for circular leadership.

Week 13 — 2040 and Beyond

Imagine the future you want to build.
Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.