Commission launches pilot projects to reinforce EU's cybersecurity capacity

The European Commission is investing more than €63.5 million in four pilot projects to lay the ground work for building a European network of centres of cybersecurity expertise which will help to reinforce research and coordination of cybersecurity in the EU.

The four pilots,CONCORDIA, ECHO, SPARTA and CyberSec4Europe are tasked to contribute to a common European Cybersecurity Research & Innovation Roadmap beyond 2020 and a European cybersecurity strategy for industry. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, said: “We are counting on CONCORDIA, ECHO, SPARTA and CyberSec4Europe to assist us in pooling Europe's cybersecurity expertise and preparing the European cybersecurity landscape in order to efficiently implement our vision for a more secure digital Europe. These projects will assist EU in defining, testing and establishing the governance model of a European Cybersecurity Competence Network of cybersecurity centres of excellence.” The pilot projects were announced in September 2017 together with a wide-ranging set of measures to equip Europe with the right tools to deal with cyber-attacks and to build strong cybersecurity in the EU. In 2018 the Commission organised a dedicated call under Horizon 2020 to select the pilots, which involve more than 160 partners, including large companies, SMEs, universities and cybersecurity research institutes from 26 EU Member States. TUDelft leads the work package on Governance of Cybersecurity4Europe.

More information on the four pilot projects is available online. An infographic summarising the four projects can be download here.

(For more information: Nathalie Vandystadt – Tel.: +32 229 67083 - Joseph Waldstein - Tel.: +32 229 56184)