The first Indian Cyber Security Delegation visit to Hague Security Delta (Netherlands) & Malvern Security cluster (UK) from April 11-15, 2016 was organised by NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India (DSCI). The delegation was led by Dr. Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India and comprised of 40 key players in Cyber Security from the Indian industry, government & academia.
This was in tune with the objective of adopting the cluster approach in stimulating the cyber security ecosystem in key locations, as outlined by the NASSCOM Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF). CSTF has identified development of industry clusters as a viable model for promoting cyber security ecosystem in the country to achieve its vision of achieving a market size of USD 35 billion for Indian player by 2025. This is conjunction with creating one million jobs, and creating at least 1,000 successful start-ups from India. The delegation visit was oriented towards learning from international best practices for cluster operations and to explore plausible synergies between the stakeholders. Existing security clusters provide a good model to learn and extract best practices, and determine its applicability in the Indian context.
Reflecting on Indian Cyber Security industry growth potential, NASSCOM and DSCI consider and monitor developments regarding security innovation initiatives around the world. Worldwide, security clusters achieve a combined gross turnover of around €180bn, of which €45bn is realised in Europe. Competing for the market development opportunities, clusters may well to be competitors in long run, but there is also potential for partnership.
The five day agenda was designed with a view to exploring the cluster ecosystems in greater detail, internalizing the lessons learnt, forging sturdy alliances with the two economies and to showcase the Indian prowess and capabilities in Cyber. The delegation held series of meetings and discussions with the crucial Cyber Security counterparts and dignitaries of the two geographies and discussed ways and means to increase cooperation between the two sides.
The following points encapsulate the major takeaways of the visit:
- A comprehensive study of the cluster ecosystems, their genesis, business models, enablers and key differentiators was undertaken. While the Hague Security Delta thrives on government support and triple helix model (close collaboration between Government-Industry-Academia on cyber security research and product development), Malvern cluster builds on voluntary initiatives of individuals striving hard to orchestrate a platform to ease working for security start-ups. With India having established itself as an outsourcing hub for last two decades, practices that can work well in Indian context need to be picked up and developed.
- The interactions provided a structured overview of the cyber security strategy and interrelationship between Government, industry and academia of the two geographies.
- Interaction with key stakeholders provided an understanding of the market, size, key players, competitors, pricing, import barriers, tax structure, etc. This will allow Indian industry to engage with the European markets more effectively in future.
- Investment opportunities for businesses were figured out via dedicated and focussed matchmaking sessions, and networking opportunities. This was the critical part of the B2B collaboration objective.
- Incubation competence, cutting edge Security solutions and research capabilities leading to technical entrepreneurship were explored. This would pave way for exchange programs between the academia, think tanks and research establishments on both sides.
- Role of academia was particularly noteworthy, that provided the impetus to the success of clusters. Their role in extensive research and industry collaboration, incubation capacities, establishing Centres of Excellence on security etc. not only focused on solving present challenges, but provided direction for future initiatives.
- Meetings with high-level government officials from the Government of Netherlands and UK Government to bolster Cyber Security ties between India-Netherlands and India-UK.
- Media: There were several media moments, both domestically and internationally that highlighted the objective of the mission, and discussed its success over the course of interaction with delegation members.
This visit is the first in a series of delegations NASSCOM and DSCI will be facilitating in near future. The enormous learning and collaboration options that emanate from such visits will play a significant role in furthering the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of Making India the hub of Cyber Security Products & Services.