The government will invest $50 million over seven years to help establish an industry-led Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
The government said that cash and in-kind contributions of more than $89 million towards the CRC had been pledged by 25 industry, research and government partners.
“The Cyber Security CRC will deliver solutions to increase the security of critical infrastructure and that benefit businesses and their customers,” assistant minister for industry, innovation and science, Craig Laundy, said in a statement.
“These include frameworks, products and approaches that will service existing and future ICT enterprises across a broad range of platforms and operating systems.”
The government’s CRC program supports industry-led collaborations between researchers and industry.
The most recent CRC guidelines, released by the government last month, outline three key objectives for the program:
• Improving the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian industries, especially where Australia has a competitive strength and in line with government priorities.
• Fostering “high quality research to solve industry-identified problems through industry-led and outcome-focused collaborative research partnerships between Industry Entities and Research Organisations”.
• Encouraging and facilitating SME participation in collaborative research.
The government said that the new CRC would work closely with the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, which was established under the Industry Growth Centres Initiative.
Earlier this year the ACSGN unveiled Australia’s first Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan (SCP).
Over the next 10 years, the size of Australia’s cyber security sector could potentially triple, reaching annual revenue of $6 billion by 2026 — up from around $2 billion — according to the ACSGN.
The SCP noted that although the government had deemed cyber security to be a a national priority research area, a Cyber Security CRC was yet to be established.
The CRC program had the potential to encourage increased local cyber security R&D, the SCP said.
“CRCs provide access to additional government grants and foster collaborative partnerships between industry and research organisations with the aim of improving the development and commercialisation of Australian technology,” the document stated.
“CRCs exist for a range of other fields, from Satellite Systems to Beef Genetic Technologies, and there is now broad support among industry for the establishment of a Cyber Security CRC to consolidate existing research capability and pursue collaborative research endeavours for national benefit.”