Data61 & CyLon partner to improve cyber collaboration between Australia & UK

Data61 of CSIRO and Cyber London (CyLon) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week to speed up cyber innovation between Australia and the UK. The MoU aims to address growing cyber threats which go beyond geographical boundaries.

The goal of Data61 in entering into a partnership with CyLon is to align Australia’s interests that can create the scale and momentum to develop a vibrant cybersecurity industry Down Under, says Data61 CEO Adrian Turner. The MoU targets to provide expertise, resources and capital to enhance the sector’s growth.

Cyber security is an area that is of strategic importance to both nations. To reach that goal, Data61 and CyLon would develop programmes to improve cyber skill and governance, roll out a CyLon accelerator programme in Australia and develop reciprocal landing pads to showcase cyber innovation to buyers and investment capital in Australia and UK.

The partnership is timely because Canberra would soon come out with a Cyber Security Strategy, including the establishment of a Cyber Security Growth Centre. The centre is part of Australia’s National Innovation and Science Agenda to help merge innovation and cyber security research to boost Australian business opportunities online.

As part of the partnership, British MP Sajiv Javid, president of Board of Trade and UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, would visit on Tuesday Data61 in Sydney. His visit is part of a Cyber Roundtable with senior members of the Aussie government and business leaders.

CyLon is the first cyber security accelerator and incubator space in Europe. On Dec 11, eight startups took part in CyLon’s second programme in West London. The startups were Aves Netsec of Finland, BitNinja of Hungary, Fabric of UK, Mazor of Israel, Simudyne of UK, Torsion InfoSec of UK, UkkoBox of UK and Brazil, and Verity of South Africa.