The CSIRO’s digital research arm, Data61, has opened a new cybersecurity and innovation hub in Melbourne in a move which will create at least 140 new jobs, including 40 jobs a year over three years for PhD students.
Backed by the Victorian Government and its aim to make Melbourne a world-class cyber security and technology “powerhouse”, D61 has ambitions to become one of the leading facilities in cybersecurity in the Asia Pacific region.
Based in the Docklands’ Goods Shed, the new D61 hub will house several other organisations including collaboration with Oxford University’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) and Victoria’s new Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC) – bringing together eight Victorian universities and major private sector partners.
D61 CEO Adrien Turner told iTWire the cybersecurity industry in Australia and New Zealand, based on figures from analyst firm Frost and Sullivan, is expected to grow to a value of US$1.6 billion by 2019, up from US$590 million in 2012.
{loadposition peter}Global growth in the industry is running at around 8% per annum and Turner expects the Australian/New Zealand market will likely grow at even faster rate over the next few years.
And, the size of the cybersecurity challenge in Australia is daunting, with security compromises often underpinning cybercrime, which the industry says has become one of the greatest threats facing the economy, with almost half of all small and medium enterprises falling victim in 2015 – costing the country’s economy $17 billion.
D61 expects that getting staff for the new facility that are suitably qualified and have the skills required, is expected to be a major challenge. The PhD students taken on by D61 in the new facility over three years on collaborative projects won’t necessarily all eventually be employed full-time.
And, Turner says it will be a challenge to recruit people who are of the “calibre we are looking for”, as the “bar has been set very high”. He says the profile of the sort of people to be recruited will be that of cyber security experts plus other skills that can be applied like machine learning.
At Thursday’s launch of the new D61facility, Victoria’s Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, Philip Dalidakis, said, “With cybercrime rising at an astonishing rate in Australia, cyber security has never been more crucial to our economy as it is right now.”
“This new cyber security hub will help us better collaborate with the industry’s best to produce products that will help protect our digital economy in the future – and it will create more Victorian jobs.”
The State Government says that with almost a quarter of Australian cyber security positions taking six months or longer to fill, and 10% never filled at all, it is improving training and education in the sector.
“Aside from bringing together our own Victorian based workforce, this new facility will also provide a dedicated space for Data61 to deepen its key relationships within the cyber security ecosystem, and we’re excited to welcome Australia Post, Optus and PwC as our first wave of industry partners,” D61’s Adrian Turner said.