Skip to main content

Euskadi-Basque Country, the land of industrial cybersecurity opportunities

Taking part in the meeting, held in the Basque Government delegation in Madrid, were Javier Diéguez, the Director of the Basque CyberSecurity Centre (BCSC), and Leyre Madariaga, Director of Foreign Relations, as well as representatives from many Embassies, including the USA, Belgium, Chile, Mexico, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, South Korea, Japan and Switzerland.

The theme of the event: "Euskadi-Basque Country, the land of industrial cybersecurity opportunities", served to present the cybersecurity skills of the Basque technological ecosystem to the members of the diplomatic corps.

In an attempt to minimise the impact of new threats and risks to the European Union, the European Commission has laid out its cybersecurity strategy which aims to promote the European values of freedom and democracy, whilst ensuring the safe growth of the digital economy.  The Basque Country stands out as a unique ecosystem where Cybersecurity technology is designed and developed. This ecosystem has been presented before the European Commission, to different bodies including EDA and ENISA, and most recently, to top level forums in the United States, such as the MIT and the RSA Conference.

Within this context, and thanks to the backing of the Basque Government, the Basque CyberSecurity Centre was set up. The reasons behind this were many; the most important being the vocation to foster the application of cybersecurity measures in industry, and first and foremost in the strategic sectors of the Basque economy. This was done in order to grow their level of maturity and, thus, their level of protection in the face of cyberthreats, which, in turn, worked to their competitive advantage in the market-place. Another reason behind the setting up of the Basque CyberSecurity Centre was to promote and support the growth of the cybersecurity sector which first appeared in the Basque Country some 20 years ago with the likes of Panda Security and S21sec. Since then the ecosystem has not ceased to evolve, and today the Basque Country houses a third of all cybersecurity start-ups in Spain, with an important number of firms producing their own technology. All these initiatives are strengthened thanks to the existence of the Basque Network for Science, Technology and Innovation, unique in Spain and with few like networks in Europe.

In addition, and as a result of the BCSC's vocation for presenting the Basque Country and its industry as a responsible, trustworthy partner, the organisation has been accepted as a member of the ECSO, and also belongs to the international alliance of Cybersecurity ecosystems, Global EPIC.

All this paint the Basque Country as the land of opportunities as far as Cybersecurity, in whatever shape of form, is concerned. If you are looking to invest, we have the companies; if you need to improve your industries' competitive edge, we have the vanguard cybersecurity technology. We offer a complete ecosystem and a government which is eager to help foreign companies set up here and thrive, and a highly digitalised, advanced manufacturing industry which could become the client for other technology-producing ecosystems. It came as no surprise when the Basque Country was recently presented with a string of  The Financial Times Strategy Awards, chosen from among 171 business development agencies from around the world. Among the acolades was the first prize in the "Start-ups and SME Support" section for BIND 4.0, first prize for "Aftercare" for foreign companies settled in the region, second prize for "Incentives", and second prize in the "Projects of major interest" section for Viralgen.

Cibereguraldia

Cibereguraldia

From the BCSC we have launched a monthly newsletter with the most relevant information at the click of a button where the most outstanding news about the cybersecurity sector is sent

Fondo azul

Published newsletters