The Spanish National Institute for Cybersecurity (INCIBE), an entity under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, has organised the 'NCC Workshop on Cybersecurity in the Spanish Presidency'. INCIBE is organising this conference in its role as the National Coordination Centre (NCC-ES) in Spain of the European Centre of Competence in Cybersecurity (ECCC)EN•••. The initiative brought together (both in person and online) around 40 representatives of the NCCs, the European Commission, the European Cyber Security Agency (ENISA), the OECD and representatives of the European cyber ecosystem, coinciding with the start of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the closing of the Cybersecurity Summer BootCamp.

The aim of the workshop was to open an in-depth dialogue to boost the participation and weight of SMEs and the innovation ecosystem in cybersecurity R&D&I initiatives funded by the European Union. European SMEs represent a very high percentage of the EU's productive network, and are an essential part of progress in the European Digital Strategy.

The workshop, which took place in León today, also allowed for an interregional dialogue between cyber actors from the European Union and public policy makers participating in the Summer BootCamp. 
 

SMEs crucial to cybersecurity

SMEs are crucial players in the EU cybersecurity sector and can provide cutting-edge solutions thanks to their agility. However, small businesses are a clear target for cybercriminals, mainly because they have a smaller budget, fewer resources and are therefore more vulnerable than others.

It is therefore necessary for the ECCC and the network of NCCs to support SMEs, to facilitate their access to knowledge and R&D&I results, in order to enable them to become sufficiently secure, competitive and contribute to the Union's leadership in the field of cybersecurity.

In this context, INCIBE, as the National Coordination Centre of the European Centre of Competence in Cybersecurity, together with the other NCCs, is working towards R&D&I funding opportunities to help establish best practices for cyber capacity building.