The CyberSpark Industry Initiative was one of three co-initiators of the GLOBAL EPIC umbrella organization. The other two are The Centre for Secure Information Technologies - CSIT (Belfast, U.K.) and the Global Cybersecurity Resource – Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada).
Global EPIC stands for Global Ecosystem of Ecosystems Partnerships in Innovation and Cyber Security.
This initiative will see 14 global ecosystems co-creating and adopting world-changing solutions to high-impact cybersecurity challenges, both current and emergent. Combining their knowledge, experience and expertise, together they will develop innovative solutions, drive knowledge sharing, perform trend analyses and research, influence and set standards on a global level. The ecosystems involved come from 10 different countries spanning 3 continents, reflecting the truly global nature of the platform. Global EPIC will focus its efforts on 10 value generating initiatives, co-creating globally and benefitting locally.
Cybersecurity threats are a global challenge disrupting local modern living. That hardly a day goes by without news of yet another harmful attack, suggests our current approaches to cybersecurity are failing. Isolating cybersecurity as its own “special domain" misreads its inherent embodiment in all sectors and levels of society. Consequently, new approaches need development if we are to achieve the global and local benefits offered by cyber and cyber-enabled technologies.
Across the globe, ecosystems that bring together academia, industry and government operate to respond to cybersecurity threats and enable economic development opportunities. The 14 involved ecosystems largely developed independently, driven by local and national objectives. The leaders of these keystones became aware that the challenges of cybersecurity require global paradigm-shifting platforms and cooperation that reflect regional and local imperatives. Underpinning this perspective is a conscious attempt to 'glocalize' – localize the global and globalize the local.
CyberSpark, Israel CEO Roni Zehavi said the organization “commences a new era, on which the being and doing at the local level would turn into a sustainable and well-orchestrated operation at the global one."
Global EPIC has set a target of 50 member cyber security ecosystems by October 2020.
The value generation initiatives of Global EPIC are organized as follows:
- Network – Each ecosystem provides resources and processes. These offerings include: (i) Soft landing services, (ii) Connectivity with expert advisors, (iii) Shared operational tools and facilities, (iv) Ecosystem-specific information, and (v) Sharing knowledge and experience.
- Projects – enable community-generated solutions to domain specific challenges (e.g., internet of things, health systems and financial systems).
- Talent –create development programs to enhance skillsets and knowledge of individuals.
- Exchange –enable matchmaking between otherwise disparate ecosystem entities, e.g. connecting an enterprise in one ecosystem with a specific mentor in another ecosystem.
- Evaluation –contribute to a structured discussion on how to evaluate the resilience of system-of-systems against cyber-attacks.
- Content –enable content sharing across ecosystem organizations. Examples of such content would be datasets, localized social networking feeds and journal articles.
- Emerging –enable horizon scanning, anticipation of emerging issues, trend analysis and investigate theories of new domains.
- Advocacy –use its globally reach and status to advocate for, and raise awareness of, causes, policies, and recommendations.
- Investment –strive to become an engine behind a global framework program for research and innovation and play a major role in defining budget allocation and prioritization.
Standards – act in a synchronizing role to standardize our understanding of Cybersecurity.
The 14 ecosystems are: bwtech@UMBC (Baltimore, U.S.A.), Centre for Secure Information Technologies - CSIT (Belfast, U.K.), Cyberspark (Beer-Sheva, Israel), CyberTech Network (San Diego, U.S.A.), Cyber Wales (Cardiff, U.K.), Global Cybersecurity Resource – Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), Innovation Boulevard (Surrey, Canada), La Fundación INCYDE (Madrid, Spain), LSEC (Heverlee, Belgium), Politecnico di Torino (Turin, Italy), Procomer (Heredia, Costa Rica), The Hague Security Delta (The Hague, Netherlands), The Kosciuszko Institute (Krakow, Poland) and The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity (CIC), University of New Brunswick (Fredericton, Canada).
