A host of security channel opportunities are being aired during The Hague’s Cyber Security Week. IT Europa is in The Netherlands to report them.
The annual event covers governmental security, public/private partnerships, startups, cyber security regional development and many other areas. A focus for the week is The Hague’s annual cyber security ONE Conference taking place at the city’s World Forum.
Before the first day of the ONE Conference today (Tuesday), IT Europa was a guest of the Municipality of the Hague at various other events in the city as part of Cyber Security Week.
First off, on Monday, we were invited to attend an event to mark the tenth anniversary of the HSD (Hague Security Delta) Campus. HSD works with 275 industry partners from Holland and around the world to promote The Hague, the surrounding region, and Holland as a hub for the international cyber security market.
The Municipality works with the Dutch government – located in The Hague – and other international bodies headquartered in the city to do this. At the HSD Campus, there are currently 34 cyber security startups working to scale up there, and a further 11 firms using the space on a “Flex” basis, where they do not rent a physical space, but rent meeting space on-demand to network and partner with other firms on an ad hoc basis.
Some of the companies renting space stay for months, while others stay for years. The Municipality took on the lease for the building and handed the management of it to non-profit HSD Campus, which charges the startups monthly rents.
Joris den Bruinen, HSD chief, said: “The whole point is that we bring cash and jobs to the region and our partners that back us have access to some of the best new cyber security startups in the market.”
A case in point is ex-HSD Campus incumbent Cybersprint. The attack surface management tools and services firm was acquired by Darktrace last year for around €50m, and is still located in The Hague since the acquisition.
Two current renters in the HSD Campus include Turkish firm Prodaft, which monitors the dark web and provides security reporting and alerts to enterprise subscribers, and the Digital Forensics IoT Lab that is managed by the neighbouring University of Leiden.
In the case of the IoT forensics lab, law enforcement uses its research around the security of connected “things”, and one of its backers is the Netherlands Forensics Institute (NFI), based in The Hague.
Helping to bring partners together in the region is HSD supporter InnovationQuarter, which is the regional economic development agency for the Greater Rotterdam – The Hague area. It finances innovative and fast-growing companies, assists international companies in establishing their businesses in the region, and facilitates collaboration between entrepreneurs.
It is able to do this armed with funds worth a total of €300m, covering the areas of technology, energy and sustainability. InnovationQuarter told an international audience at a kick-off event for Cyber Security Week that it welcomed new cyber security players to apply for backing and funds.
More from Cyber Security Week to follow...
