European Commission launches public-private cyber resilience partnership
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- Published: Wednesday, 06 July 2016 08:22
The European Commission has announced the launch of a new public-private partnership on cybersecurity that is expected to trigger €1.8 billion of investment by 2020. This is part of a series of new initiatives to better equip Europe against cyber-attacks and to strengthen the competitiveness of its cybersecurity sector.
As part of its Digital Single Market strategy the Commission wants to reinforce cooperation across borders and between all actors and sectors active in cybersecurity. It also wants to help develop innovative and secure technologies, products and services throughout the EU.
Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "Without trust and security, there can be no Digital Single Market. Europe has to be ready to tackle cyber threats that are increasingly sophisticated and do not recognise borders. Today, we are proposing concrete measures to strengthen Europe's resilience against such attacks and secure the capacity needed for building and expanding our digital economy."
Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, said: "Europe needs high quality, affordable and interoperable cyber security products and services. There is a major opportunity for our cyber security industry to compete in a fast-growing global market. We call on Member States and all cyber security bodies to strengthen cooperation and pool their knowledge, information and expertise to increase Europe's cyber resilience. The milestone partnership on cybersecurity signed today with the industry is a major step."
The EU will invest €450 million in the public-private partnership, under its research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. Cyber security market players, represented by the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), are expected to invest three times more. This partnership will also include members from national, regional and local public administrations, research centres and academia.
The aim of the partnership is to foster cooperation at early stages of the research and innovation process and to build cyber security solutions for various sectors, such as energy, health, transport and finance.
