On Wednesday 9 February, the CBR Innovation Network partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Canberra to bring together 80 Cyber Security experts and speakers for a session to help bridge the public-private divide through effective partnerships in cyber security.
The U.S. Embassy Charge d’Affaires James Carouso opened the event and in the keynote address, the Deputy National Cyber Security Adviser Sandra Ragg spoke about Australia’s cyber security efforts and better engagement with public-private partnerships.
“It was really exciting to see people from all parts of the industry come together and tackle such a complex problem. The vibe of the room was energetic and it was great to see new connections being made.” – Irene Zhen, Growth Program Associate
Throughout the day there were special guests from the USA, including Kevin Stine, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Irv Lachow, MITRE Corperation, who participated in a Fireside Chat and discussed cyber security and the relationship between Australia and the United States, themed around building trust between government and industry, changing culture and increasing awareness of cyber security issues.
The afternoon session held a Collaborative Innovation Lab that split the teams into groups of entrepreneurs, cyber experts, researchers and government in a mini hackathon style. The groups were to come up with innovative ways on how SMEs, startups and government work together to “bridge the divide” via developing a concrete project, policy and/or collaboration concepts.
“Great to see the diverse mix of industry leaders, government representatives and researchers coming together to address some of the complex issues affecting the cyber security industry in Australia. Could not be happier with the outcomes and it was an absolute pleasure working with the fantastic team from the U.S Embassy!” – Joel Anderson, Collaborative Innovation Manager
Through a voting process, the winning concept was to help simplify cyber for SMEs by increasing accessibility to quality cyber security resources. The main idea is for each company to have a cyber ready assessment rating, which allows consumers to determine whether they feel safe in providing their personal data.
“Cyber is a hot topic that affects us all no matter where we work. This workshop opened a dialogue between the public, private and academic sectors to solicit ideas from Australia’s most creative minds and entrepreneurs. The exchanges between large multinational firms and individual SMEs working on cutting edge products were among the best outcomes. CBRIN was uniquely place to partner with us in this endeavor, and the staff brought the concept to fruition with tremendous efficiency. – Michael Heath, acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Cyber Security Working Group Chair, U.S. Embassy Canberra
“In my opinion, one of the best parts of the workshop was the constant buzz of activity. From participants networking with one another during coffee and tea breaks to everyone tossing about ideas during the interactive tabletop exercise, to the great Q&A sessions between the audience and guest speakers, I really felt that the energy in the room remained high all day, thanks to the people-to-people interactions brought about by the workshop.” – James Shea, U.S. Embassy
This workshop was a collaborative platform to help initiate and grow ideas around tackling the big issues in cyber security.
“The depth and breadth of expertise in the room was remarkable” – Workshop Participant
If you interested in finding meaningful solutions to complex problems innovatively, contact us enquiries@cbrin.com.au
