European Commission signs public-private partnership on cybersecurity

Joint press conference by Andrus Ansip and Günther Oettinger on the adoption of the digital single market strategy - credit: European Commission Media

The European Commission has launched a new public-private partnership on cybersecurity, which is predicted to trigger €1.8bn of investment by 2020.

The EU will invest €450m under its Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, while cybersecurity companies, represented by the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), are expected to invest three times more.

The partnership will also include members of national and local government, as well as research centres and academia.

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This is the first European public private partnership on cybersecurity.

The aim is to promote cooperation in the early stages of research and innovation and to build cybersecurity solutions for various sectors, including energy, health, transport and finance.

It is part of a series of new initiatives aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of its cybersecurity sector and equipping Europe against cyber-attacks.

According to the most recent Global State of Information Security survey, at least 80 per cent of European companies have experienced at least one cybersecurity incident over the last year and the number of cybersecurity incidents worldwide rose by 38 per cent in 2015.

As part of its digital single market strategy the European Commission says it wants to reinforce cooperation across borders and to support the development of innovative and secure technologies across the EU.

It has also set out a number of measures to deal with the fragmentation of the EU cybersecurity market, where currently an IT company might need to go through different certification processes to sell its products or services in different member states.

The Commission has said it intends to look into a possible European certification framework for security products.

It also wants to make it easier for smaller businesses working in the field of cybersecurity to access finance and will explore different options under the EU investment plan.

Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, said: "Europe needs high quality, affordable and interoperable cybersecurity products and services.

“There is a major opportunity for our cybersecurity industry to compete in a fast-growing global market.

“We call on member states and all cybersecurity 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."