The NSW government has released its first Cyber Security Industry Development strategy in a move to help grow the local cybersecurity sector.
The strategy, released on Monday, details four key themes in which the state government plans to support the industry.
These include supporting collaboration to drive commercial outcomes, attracting investment and promoting export capabilities, and addressing the skills gap by working with the education sector and industry requirements.
Finance Minister Victor Dominello said the strategy was designed to help the local cybersecurity industry to take advantage of existing capabilities.
“NSW starts from a strong baseline and is already home to the largest ICT industry in Australia, a world-leading financial services sector, a rapidly expanding FinTech industry and more than 45 per cent of the nation’s startups,” he said.
“This strategy will take advantage of these existing strengths and supporting our cyber security start-ups and SMEs to develop new technologies to commercialise and export globally.”
As part of the strategy, the NSW government will establish Cyber Security Connect, a program that will include networking events, business and commercial skills workshops, export capability-building workshops, and connect startups with industry leaders and investors, and NSW government procurement processes.
The Cyber Security Connect program would also be used to identify existing industry-led initiatives such as hackathons and code camps to help close the skills gap.
It would also work with industry and TAFE NSW to deliver training programs, internships, apprenticeships, and vocational courses, as well as programs to increase participation in STEM subjects in primary and secondary institutions.
The Industry department would partner with AustCyber in the next 12 months to establish a NSW Cyber Security Innovation Node, to connect the public, private and academic sector.
This aims to improve cyber industry commercialisation, policy development and research and development.
“A holistic approach will allow the sector to make better use of existing expertise, infrastructure and investment to drive commercialisation of new products and services, both domestically and internationally,” the strategy noted.
Making government procurement policies more accessible – whatever that means – and increasing early-stage product development for startups and SMEs are other priorities outlined in the strategy.
NSW continues to administer a suite of grants through Jobs for NSW including the Minimum Viable Product grants, Building Partnerships grants, Regional Growth Loans, and Accelerating Growth Loans.
Government would work to remove structural barriers to investment to attract foreign investment and reinvestment in the local industry, as well as work the federal government and foreign governments to host business forums and networking events.
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