National cybersecurity innovation and skills centre for Lot Fourteen

South Australia will be a centre for cybersecurity innovation and skills development with the establishment of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre at Lot Fourteen

The Centre is anticipated to be fully operational by 2020 and will support startups, scale-ups and existing businesses to launch new products and services into global markets. This capability will create a nation-leading cyber ecosystem in South Australia that contributes to economic growth through new skills, new enterprises, new customers and new investment.

A key part of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre will be the Cyber Launchpad, which will include a Cyber Academy and the Cyber Test Range. The Cyber Academy will leverage existing training material where possible from a number of organisations, including from local and overseas universities, but will also develop specific training courses where gaps in the market are identified. The Cyber Academy will be utilised to train all levels of the cyber workforce, work to raise awareness at secondary school level, and provide formal training at the technical, professional and C-suite level.

The Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre will create a cyber skills pipeline to attract local, national and international investment, while also building cyber resilience within the South Australian business community.

The Cyber Test Range will provide a facility that organisations can utilise to carry out security testing of equipment or network configurations in the knowledge that their production networks are safe from interference. The Cyber Test Range will have a range of tools and skilled operators that a the majority of SA companies would not possess. It will provide a mix of internet facing and isolated networks for local cyber startups to showcase their tools to their fullest in a safe environment. It will also provide a capability for Subject Matter Experts, researchers and government to collaborate, whilst allowing cyber security devices, software and techniques to be introduced into the environment for certification or standards-based testing to be performed, thereby assisting product to market.

As part of the development, the State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with initial member organisations including as Optus, Symantec, Dtex Systems, University of South Australia,Flinders University, TAFE SA, The University of Adelaide, Defence Science and Technology Group of the Department of Defence SA, Office for Cyber Security, ICT & Digital Government, Australian Cyber Security Growth Network [AustCyber SA Node] and the Cyber Security Collaborative Research Centre.

The intent is to establish a broader membership offer for the centre.

To stay up to date and informed of ongoing developments visit the Department of Innovation and Skills here