Our Community

cybersecurity community

Our Community consists of:

  • Cybersecurity Competence Centre and Network
  • The European Cybersecurity Competence Centre
  • Network of National Coordination Centres
  • The Cybersecurity Competence Community
  • The Four Pilot Projects
  • Cybersecurity Atlas
  • CyberSec4Europe Partners
  • CyberSec4Europe Associates
  • Friends of CyberSec4Europe

Cybersecurity Competence Centre and Network

To strengthen European cybersecurity capacity, the Commission proposed the creation of a new European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre and a network of national coordination centres. The Centre which will be situated in Bucharest will pool expertise and align European development and deployment of cybersecurity technology. It will work with industry, the academic community and others to build a common agenda for investments into cybersecurity, and decide on funding priorities for research, development and roll-out of cybersecurity solutions, for example, through the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe Programmes).

The European Cybersecurity Network and Cybersecurity Competence Centre will help the EU retain and develop cybersecurity technological and industrial capacities. By managing the cybersecurity funds under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework, the initiative will help to create an inter-connected, EU-wide cybersecurity industrial and research ecosystem. It should encourage better cooperation between relevant stakeholders, including between cybersecurity civilian and defence sectors.

This cooperation will help stakeholders make the best use of existing cybersecurity resources and expertise across Europe. The initiative builds on the expertise that already exists in more than 660 cybersecurity expertise centres from all Member States who responded to a survey conducted by the European Commission in 2018.

The initiative should also help the EU and Member States take a proactive, longer-term strategic perspective to cybersecurity industrial policy going beyond research and development. This approach is intended to come up with breakthrough solutions to the cybersecurity challenges which the private and public sectors are facing and support the effective deployment of these solutions. It will allow relevant research and industrial communities and public authorities to gain access to key capacities such as testing and experimentation facilities. These facilities are often beyond the reach of individual Member States due to insufficient financial and human resources.

The initiative will contribute to closing the skills gap and to avoiding a brain drain by ensuring access of the best talents to large-scale European cybersecurity research and innovation projects and therefore providing interesting professional challenges.

The European Cybersecurity Competence Centre

The European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) aims to increase Europe’s cybersecurity capacities and competitiveness. It will work together with a Network of National Coordination Centres (NCCs) to build a strong cybersecurity community.Located in Bucharest, it will implement relevant parts of the Digital Europe and Horizon Europe programmes by allocating grants and carrying out procurements.

Tasks and objectives

The ECCC will seek to achieve its overall mission by:

  • setting up and helping to coordinate the National Coordination Centres Network and the cybersecurity competence community;
  • making strategic investment decisions and pooling resources from the EU, its Member States and industry;
  • implementing cybersecurity-related financial support from Horizon Europe and Digital Europe Programmes.

This will feed into the following objectives:

  • contributing to the wide deployment of the latest cybersecurity technology, in particular through carrying out or supporting procurement of products and solutions;
  • providing financial support and technical assistance to cybersecurity start-ups and a to connect them to potential markets and to attract investment;
  • supporting research and innovation based on a comprehensive industrial and research agenda, including large-scale research and demonstration projects in next-generation cybersecurity capabilities;
  • driving high cybersecurity standards not only in technology and cybersecurity systems but also in skills development;
  • facilitating the cooperation between the civil and defence spheres with regard to dual use technologies and applications, and enhancing civil-defence synergies in relation to the European Defence Fund.
Governance structure

The ECCC is currently being set up. Its administrative and governance structure will include:

  • a Governing Board, to provide strategic orientation and oversee its activities;
  • an Executive Director, to be the legal representative and to be responsible for day-to-day management;
  • a Strategic Advisory Group to ensure a comprehensive, ongoing dialogue between the ECCC and the cybersecurity community.

The Governing Board will include:

  • one representative from each member State, and two from the Commission, serving for a renewable four year term;
  • observers, including ENISA permanently, and others on an ad-hoc basis;
  • a Chairperson and deputy Chairperson, elected for three years, once renewable;
  • the Executive Director, who takes part but has no voting rights.

In principle, decisions will be taken by consensus. Where this is not possible, there needs to be a majority of at least 75% of all votes. For join actions, the vote will be proportional to the financial contributions of those involved. The EU holds 26% of voting rights for any decision affecting the EU budget .

The Governing Board is assisted by an Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board to ensure regular dialogue with the private sector, consumer organisations and other relevant stakeholders.

Network of National Coordination Centres

Each Member State will nominate one National Coordination Centre which will function as contact points at the national level for the Competence Community and the Competence Centre. As ’gatekeepers’ for the cybersecurity community in their country, they will support carrying out actions under this Regulation, and they can pass on financial support to national and local ecosystems.

The Cybersecurity Competence Community

This Community involves a large, open, and diverse group of actors involved in cybersecurity technology, including in particular research entities, supply/demand-side industries and the public sector. It will provide input to the activities and work plan of the Competence Centre. And, it will benefit from the community-building activities of the Competence Centre and the Network.

The Four Pilot Projects

For the realisation of a European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre with a Network of National Coordination Centres (CCCN), the European Commission launched a pilot phase under the Horizon 2020 programme. In support of this,  the pilot projects CONCORDIA, ECHO, SPARTA and CyberSec4Europe started at the beginning of 2019 with similar goals to assist the EC during the establishment of the CCCN.

Currently, the four pilot projects are running to lay the groundwork for the Competence Centre and Network. They involve more than 170 partners and collaborate closely under the brand Cyber Competence Network. Representatives from the four pilots are collaborating in a set of focus groups, ranging from governance, education and communications to cyber ranges, roadmapping and threat intelligence.

Cybersecurity Atlas

To have a better overview of cybersecurity expertise and capacity across the EU, the Commission through its Joint Research Centre (JRC) has built  a comprehensive platform called the Cybersecurity Atlas. The Atlas is a knowledge management platform to map, categorise and stimulate collaboration between European cybersecurity experts in support of the EU Digital Strategy. Organisations participating in the Atlas have the opportunity to enlarge their research network, to get in contact with relevant peers, and to improve their organisation’s visibility.

The Atlas comprises:

  • Institutions and expertise: An interactive map showing the location and expertise of cybersecurity organisations and their area(s) of expertise.
  • Cybersecurity taxonomy defining cybersecurity terminologies to ensure harmonisation.
  • Competence network: the four pilot projects embracing over 170 partners including companies, SMEs, universities and research institutes (see above)
  • Detailed information about EU and national research projects.
  • Courses and training offered by the organisations participating in the Atlas.
  • Cybersecurity experts list (coming soon).

Register my organisation

CyberSec4Europe Partners

CyberSec4Europe is a consortium of 43 partners across 20 Member States and two Associated Countries. With over 100 cybersecurity projects between them, the CyberSec4Europe consortium partners cover a wide spectrum of cybersecurity issues: 14 key cybersecurity domain areas, 11 technology/applications elements and nine crucial vertical sectors.

CyberSec4Europe Associates

See the Associates page and find out the benefits of becoming an Associate Partner.

Friends of CyberSec4Europe

See the Friends page and keep up to date with all the latest news and views from the project

Synergies with other H2020 projects

In addition to working with the other three pilot projects, CyberSec4Europe collaborates with many other topic-specific H2020 projects.