INER - Institute of Northern-European Economic Research
Mirko Schönfeldt
Prof. Dr. Mirko Schönfeldt is Chairman of the Institute of Northern-European Economic Research and Director of its Department of European Economic Law. In addition to his leadership responsibilities at INER, he is Professor of Business Law and Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching at NBS Northern Business School. He is also a practising attorney and serves as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia for the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Professor Schönfeldt works at the intersection of law, economics, infrastructure and Northern-European cooperation. His career combines academic research, university leadership, legal practice, executive responsibility and practical experience in major cross-border infrastructure and development projects.
His work focuses on the legal and institutional conditions under which European integration becomes economically effective: functioning markets, reliable infrastructure, investment certainty, public procurement, cross-border cooperation and resilient regional value creation.
Law, Economic Capacity and Northern-European Cooperation
Professor Schönfeldt’s professional profile bridges four domains that are frequently treated in isolation: legal scholarship, institutional leadership, business practice and regional economic cooperation. His work is shaped by the conviction that legal systems must be understood not only through their formal rules, but also through their capacity to enable investment, coordinate institutions, support infrastructure and create durable economic relationships across borders.
He studied law at the University of Hamburg and completed his doctorate in international law in 2006. His doctoral research examined the legal protection of the linguistic and cultural rights of the Sámi minority in Norway. The resulting monograph was published in 2007 as volume 170 of the series Schriften zum Völkerrecht by Duncker & Humblot. Research stays at the universities of Oslo and Tromsø further established the Northern-European orientation that continues to inform his academic and institutional work.
Before assuming his current academic leadership roles, Professor Schönfeldt taught and worked as an academic tutor at the University of Hamburg and Bucerius Law School. He was admitted as an attorney in 2007 and subsequently combined legal practice with executive responsibilities in major project development, infrastructure and cross-border business.
From 2008 to 2011, he supported the expansion of HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung into Sweden and worked on major development projects, including legal and project-related responsibilities. He was also involved in the company’s sustainability competence team. Since 2011, he has served as Chief Executive Officer of Baltic Facility Solutions, an enterprise network connected to regional participation in large infrastructure projects, particularly in the context of the Fehmarnbelt region.
This combination of legal, academic and executive experience gives his work a distinctive institutional perspective: European law is not approached as an abstract regulatory system alone, but as an architecture that determines whether economic cooperation, infrastructure development and regional integration can succeed in practice.
Chairman of INER
As Chairman of the Institute of Northern-European Economic Research, Professor Schönfeldt is responsible for the institute’s strategic orientation, institutional development and external representation. He has led the institute since 2023 and directs its work at the intersection of economic research, European law, technological transformation, maritime affairs, infrastructure, foreign trade and strategic resilience.
His chairmanship is guided by a cross-disciplinary understanding of Northern Europe. Economic competitiveness cannot be separated from legal institutions, infrastructure, energy systems, maritime connectivity, technological capacity, security and regional cooperation. INER therefore brings these fields together within a shared research framework.
Under his leadership, the institute is strengthening its relationships with Northern-European institutions and developing research agendas on resilient industrial structures, decentralized production and data infrastructure, energy systems, strategic logistics and comparative legal frameworks across the Nordic and Baltic regions. NBS’s current research reporting identifies international institutional cooperation and comparative research into Nordic legal conditions as important elements of INER’s continuing development.
Leadership Mandate
Institutional Strategy
Developing INER as an internationally connected research institute and strategic platform for Northern-European economic analysis.
Research Coherence
Connecting the institute’s six departments through a common focus on competitiveness, resilience, technological sovereignty and institutional capacity.
Northern-European Partnerships
Building relationships with universities, research institutions, public authorities, companies and regional organizations across Scandinavia, the Baltic states and the wider Baltic Sea region.
Strategic Dialogue
Creating forums in which law, economics, industry, public policy and regional cooperation can be examined together.
Public Representation
Representing INER in academic, political, economic and international contexts and positioning the institute within Northern-European and transatlantic debates.
Director of the Department of European Economic Law
As Director of European Economic Law, Professor Schönfeldt leads INER’s research into the legal architecture of European economic integration. The department examines how EU law, supranational institutions, internal market rules, public procurement, infrastructure regulation, competition, industrial policy and cross-border legal frameworks shape Europe’s economic capacity.
His approach places particular emphasis on the relationship between legal design and economic implementation. Rules become strategically relevant when they influence whether infrastructure can be delivered, whether public and private actors can coordinate, whether investment remains viable and whether regions can participate effectively in the European economic area.
The department therefore treats European economic law as economic infrastructure: a system of rights, obligations, procedures and institutions that can enable cooperation and competitiveness, but can also create delay, fragmentation and strategic weakness when legal arrangements become detached from operational reality.
Department Priorities Under His Direction
European Economic Integration
The legal and institutional foundations of the internal market, cross-border economic activity and supranational governance
Public Procurement and Infrastructure
The relationship between procurement law, planning procedures, project delivery, investment certainty and economic capacity
Northern-European Legal Cooperation
Comparative and cross-border legal conditions affecting Scandinavian, Baltic and German economic relations
Strategic Infrastructure Law
Legal frameworks governing transport corridors, ports, energy systems, industrial sites and cross-border infrastructure
Regulation and Competitiveness
The consequences of European regulation for innovation, industrial development, investment and institutional resilience
Economic Law in Practice
The translation of legal frameworks into workable institutional and commercial arrangements
Research and Areas of Expertise
Professor Schönfeldt’s research and professional expertise are defined by the interaction of law, institutions and economic implementation. His work is especially relevant where legal frameworks must accommodate large projects, cross-border relationships and competing public and private interests.
European Economic Law and Governance
Professor Schönfeldt examines the legal structures through which European economic integration is organized and implemented. His work considers how supranational rules, national institutions and regional actors interact, and how European legal frameworks affect market access, investment, infrastructure and cross-border economic cooperation.
His teaching at NBS has included European Economic Law, and he has integrated direct dialogue with representatives of the European Commission into the academic environment of the university.
Cross-Border Infrastructure and the Fehmarnbelt Region
Professor Schönfeldt has extensive practical and research-related experience in the Fehmarnbelt region. As co-author of an INER research report, he examined the opportunities and risks created by the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link for the German Baltic ports of Kiel, Lübeck and Rostock. He has also presented on the economic implications of the project and contributed to public and institutional discussions about regional value creation, transport connections and cross-border cooperation.
His executive work at Baltic Facility Solutions has further connected him to the practical realities of large infrastructure projects, including the coordination of regional companies, major contractors, public institutions and cross-border regulatory environments.
International Law and Minority Rights
Professor Schönfeldt completed his doctorate in international law at the University of Hamburg. His dissertation addressed the legal protection of the linguistic and cultural rights of the Sámi in Norway, combining international legal analysis with a specifically Northern-European research perspective.
This work provides an important foundation for his continuing interest in the relationship between law, identity, institutional protection, regional autonomy and cross-border cooperation.
Public Procurement and Infrastructure Law
Public procurement and infrastructure law form a central part of his legal-economic work. Professor Schönfeldt has been a member of the Public Procurement Review Board of Schleswig-Holstein since 2020.
His work in this field focuses on the institutional conditions under which major infrastructure projects can be planned, procured and delivered while preserving legal certainty, procedural legitimacy and economic viability.
Business, Contract and Real-Estate Law
As a practising attorney, Professor Schönfeldt works across business law, contract law, legal negotiations, construction law, real-estate law, tenancy law, business succession and compliance. His experience in project development and commercial legal practice supports an applied understanding of how legal rules affect companies, investments and complex contractual relationships.
Baltic Sea Regional Cooperation
Professor Schönfeldt’s work places the Baltic Sea region at the center of Northern Europe’s economic and institutional future. His activities connect Germany with Scandinavia and the Baltic states through research, academic exchange, infrastructure development, economic dialogue and public office.
At the Baltic Sea Business Day in 2024, he represented INER as its institute head and emphasized the strategic importance of the Baltic Sea region for Europe’s future prosperity. In 2025, he opened the EBIT conference in Riga with an address focused on the economic, digital and energy-related potential of the Baltic states.
Research Approach
Professor Schönfeldt’s research approach is characterized by institutional realism. Law is examined in relation to the economic systems, public authorities, companies, infrastructures and regions that must operate within it.
Law as Economic Infrastructure
Legal systems define the conditions under which markets function, investments are made, infrastructure is delivered and institutions cooperate. Law must therefore be analyzed as part of economic capacity rather than as an external constraint alone.
Cross-Border Perspective
Northern Europe is shaped by economic relationships that extend beyond national jurisdictions. Research must therefore consider the interaction of European, national, regional and local legal systems.
Long-Term Economic Consequences
Legal procedures should be assessed not only according to immediate compliance requirements, but also according to their effects on investment, competitiveness, infrastructure and regional development.
Doctrine and Implementation
Legal interpretation must be connected to practical implementation. A regulatory framework can only be considered effective when it produces workable procedures, predictable decisions and institutionally sustainable outcomes.
Institutional Capacity
Rules do not implement themselves. The quality of legal frameworks depends on the ability of institutions to interpret, coordinate and apply them consistently.
Dialogue Across Sectors
Complex economic questions require cooperation between legal experts, economists, public authorities, business leaders, engineers, researchers and regional stakeholders.
A Northern-European Perspective
Professor Schönfeldt’s relationship with Northern Europe is both academic and practical. He has lived and conducted research in Norway, supported corporate expansion into Sweden, worked on German-Danish infrastructure relationships and developed institutional connections across the Baltic Sea region.
His work reflects an understanding of Northern Europe as an interconnected economic and institutional space. The Nordic and Baltic states, northern Germany, the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions are linked by trade, infrastructure, law, energy systems, digitalization, security interests and long-standing cultural relationships.
At INER, he advances the view that these relationships should be examined together. Regional competitiveness depends not only on national policy, but on the quality of cross-border institutions and the ability of neighboring economies to build common capacity.
Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia in Schleswig-Holstein
Professor Schönfeldt was appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia for Schleswig-Holstein in December 2024. The Honorary Consulate is based in Kiel and its consular district covers the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The opening of the Honorary Consulate highlighted the long-standing relationships between Latvia and Schleswig-Holstein, including connections in municipal cooperation, maritime transport, logistics, digital public administration and regional resilience. The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has identified these areas as fields with significant potential for deeper cooperation.
This honorary public office complements Professor Schönfeldt’s long-standing engagement with the Baltic Sea region and strengthens his practical understanding of the institutional relationships connecting Northern Germany and the Baltic states.
Institutional Clarification
Professor Schönfeldt’s honorary consular responsibilities are separate from his academic and institutional work at INER. INER conducts its research independently and does not represent the government or official positions of the Republic of Latvia.