Cyber-security Excellence Hub in Estonia and South Moravia

The proposed Cyber-security Excellence Hub in Estonia and South Moravia (CHESS) will integrate leading cybersecurity institutions and capitalize on the strengths of both regions to address important Europe-wide challenges. South Moravia is a major ICT industry & education powerhouse of the Czech Republic, with a very focused and coherent smart specialization strategy targeting cybersecurity. Estonia is among the most advanced digital societies globally, with exceptional e-government deployment – which, however, makes it vulnerable to various cyber threats. CHESS will directly follow the strategies and roadmaps of the European Cybersecurity Competence Pilots and build on the experience of CHESS partners involved in all four of these pilots, contributing to safe transition of the EU to full-scale digital society. The CHESS Hub will conduct a thorough needs analysis of the two regions and develop a joint cross-border R&I strategy for cybersecurity. The strategy development will be aided by implementation of pilot R&I projects that will reinforce the cross-regional collaboration, engage regional innovation ecosystems and build evidence for future projects. Gaps in skills and expertise identified in the regions will be removed by training and knowledge transfer. Finally, dedicated task forces will ensure sustainability of CHESS by integration with regional, national, and EU-level strategies and funding programmes. To exploit the project outputs, especially the pilot project results, CHESS will aid with market potential assessment and link researchers and innovators with entrepreneurship training and business consultancy services available in the regions. The strategizing, skills-building and pilot R&I will cover the totality of the cybersecurity field, with special attention to 6 Challenge Areas: Internet of Secure Things; Security Certification; Verification of Trustworthy Software; Blockchain; Post-Quantum Cryptography; and Human-centric Aspects of Cybersecurity.