An initiative to establish a national cyber security cluster in Ireland has been announced. Facilitated by Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), the national cluster will be called Cyber Ireland and is supported by IDA Ireland. It will provide a collective voice to represent the needs of the cyber security sector across the country and will address key challenges, including: skills needs, research and the development of a national community which connects industry, academia and government.
CIT, which has best practice cluster development expertise and a strong core of in-depth cyber security expertise among its faculty, will drive the development of the national cluster.
Welcoming the initiative, An Tánaiste Simon Coveney TD said: “With a significant number of cyber security companies already concentrated in Cork, today’s announcement of a national cyber security cluster is really exciting for this region. Supported by CIT and backed by Government funding, this initiative will greatly advance the sector in Ireland, by facilitating greater collaboration between the companies involved. There are already more than 6,000 people employed in cyber security here, but there is even more potential for further growth.”
Cyber Ireland is also supported by a number of leading cyber security and technology firms in Ireland, who called for the establishment of a cluster to represent industry needs and address key challenges, including Johnson Controls International, Dell EMC, IBM, McAfee, McKesson and Trend Micro.
Cyber Ireland will provide a collective voice for the sector and will provide an avenue for challenges facing the sector to be addressed. Overall the establishment of the cluster will result in a better cyber security response for the State and better outcomes for the companies involved.
Dr Eoin Byrne, Senior Researcher in CIT who will lead and manage development of the cluster, said: “For Cyber Ireland to be successful, it needs to be industry-driven, supported by third level education and Government. Without the co-operation of these three pillars, the cluster cannot reach its full potential. Industry must be at the core of the cluster, which needs to be championed by passionate and dedicated leaders. Academia is also critical in addressing the skills and training needs of industry. We look forward to engaging with industry and academia across Ireland in the coming months to develop a programme that is in line with international best practice in cluster development based on key learnings from successful cluster initiatives elsewhere in Europe.”
Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland said: “Ireland has become a significant base of international technology and cyber security companies thanks to a growing, well-educated and flexible workforce with a rapidly increasing graduate output. The cyber security industry in Ireland is growing at an unprecedented rate and we believe Ireland is uniquely placed to benefit from increased global investment to position itself as a world class cyber security cluster.”
From February 18 to 20, 2019, there will be a series of cluster initiation workshops organised in Cork, Dublin and Galway, which will provide industry and higher education institutes with an opportunity to learn about Cyber Ireland and its benefits and value to cluster members. The objective of these workshops is to develop a robust collaborative mandate that will strengthen Ireland’s cyber security ecosystem.
For further information on Cyber Ireland and how to get involved, see cyberireland.ie or contact eoin.byrne@cyberireland.ie.
