CS4NL, formerly the Broadly Carried Cybersecurity Programme, pools the cybersecurity innovation power of Dutch top sectors. The programme tackles cybersecurity issues arising from major societal transitions and organises efficient chains of cooperation to this end.
The Netherlands has nine top sectors:
- Agri & Food
- Chemistry NL (Chemistry)
- Creative industry
- Energy
- Health Holland (Life sciences & health)
- Logistics
- Holland High Tech (High Tech Systems & Materials)
- Horticulture & Starting Materials
- Water & Maritime
- Dutch digital delta (Team ICT)
CS4NL focuses on promoting cybersecurity knowledge and innovation from these top sectors. This is done by pooling supply and demand on specific issues, organising an ecosystem along the entire valorisation chain and releasing new funding from existing innovation instruments. "The overarching goal of CS4NL is not only to strengthen the cyber resilience of Dutch organisations. In fact, the effect is going to be to strengthen the Dutch economy and competitive position in the world," explains Frits Grotenhuis, director Top Sector ICT. CS4NL will operate with an estimated budget of 27 to 36 million euros over five years.
Seven themes
CS4NL picks up seven demand-driven cyber themes that belong to the major societal transitions facing the Netherlands. These include the energy transition, innovations in mobility and moving medical care safely into the home. The CS4NL themes are relevant to the cybersecurity challenges of two or more top sectors and concern security by design, secure data-driven working, secure connectivity, OT/IT security, cyber risk management, system and chain security and security awareness, knowledge and skills.
Eddy Boot, director dcypher, explains: "For the themes, we examined in advance whether existing knowledge and technology could be deployed, but this turned out not to be the case. There is still a lot of missing knowledge and technology and existing concepts are not yet applicable to specific transitions. We are going to work very hard on that now."
Knowledge and innovation
On the seven themes, CS4NL puts out calls for scientific research. Knowledge institutions can bid for these in cooperation with industry, governments and civil society organisations. This strengthens the cybersecurity knowledge base in the Netherlands. In-depth practical problem sets have also been defined in use cases for each of the themes. These form the starting point for additional calls for targeted innovation projects from the top sectors. Broad-based consortia can also apply for these.
For now, 12 use cases have been developed. These include:
- The secure digitisation of remote patient care
- Certainty about the accuracy of sensor data from wind farms for safe maintenance and security of energy supply
- Better understanding the increasingly complex IT and OT systems and networks required by societal sectors such as energy, water management and horticulture
- The cyber resilience of smaller companies in the logistics sector, among others.
Calls around the themes for research and use cases for innovation are expected to start from 2023.
Reliable and secure digitalisation
The societal transitions facing the Netherlands lean heavily on reliable and secure digitalisation. Cybersecurity is therefore a precondition for the responsible and future-proof functioning of Dutch society and economic growth. The importance and urgency of digital resilience is evident from, among other things, the numerous ransomware attacks and the war in Ukraine. The topic is therefore on the agenda in the Mission-driven Top Sectors and Innovation Policy (MTIB).
At the basis of CS4NL is a broad ecosystem consisting of all ten top sectors and organisations from their constituencies. For instance, the Academic Cyber Security Society, HBO, NWO, TNO, Cyberveilig Nederland, Regional Development Agencies (through Innovation Quarter) and the Ministry of Defence as the end user of cybersecurity collaborated in its creation. The departments of Economic Affairs and Climate and Justice and Security are also involved through the KIA Security. The programme was initiated by Top Sector ICT and dcypher within the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda Key Technologies.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source photo: Pixabay / pixelcreatures
