Today, the regulation establishing a new Cybersecurity Competence Centre and a Network of National Coordination Centres is entering into force. The Cybersecurity Competence Centre, which will be located in Bucharest, will contribute to strengthening European cybersecurity capacities and to boosting research excellence and the competitiveness of the Union’s industry in the cybersecurity field.
Together with the Joint Cyber Unit, proposed on 23 June, it is part of the EU Cybersecurity Strategy aimed to ensure that all citizens and businesses are safe from cyber threats, to make physical and digital critical entities more resilient and to build a global, open, stable and secure cyberspace. The new Cybersecurity Competence Centre and Network will develop and implement, with Member States, industry and the academic community, a common agenda for technology development and for its wide deployment in areas of public interest, as well as in businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). It will pool resources from the EU, its Member States and the industry to improve and strengthen technology and industrial cybersecurity capacities, enhancing the EU’s open strategic autonomy. By managing the cybersecurity funds under the long-term EU budget 2021-2027, the Centre will source funding from the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe, as well as contributions from Member States. The Commission will set up and run the Cybersecurity Competence Centre in Bucharest, until it can operate independently.