Mr. Brian Honan:

It would be something similar to the Centre for Secure Information Technologies, CSIT, in Queen's University in Belfast. CSIT is a unit on the campus which focuses on cybersecurity research. Our vision is that it would be a cross-sectoral initiative between the Government, the education sector and the private sector. Private sector research and development is very different to societal or educational research and development because it is focused more on how quickly it can get something to the market. If it is not going to make money, it will not do any more research on it. That is on the product and technical side. We must be able to focus on more than just the technology here.

A problem we have had, historically, with cybersecurity is that people see it as being a technical or IT problem. We cannot think that way any more. This is a national security risk because our society, personal lives and business lives rely so much on the Internet, cloud computing, computers, etc. It is an economic risk for businesses. It should be treated as a business risk not an IT risk. Therefore, our research and development should look at educational awareness programmes and how we make citizens more aware and better at staying safe online. If an individual citizen is safer online, then employees will be safer in those businesses as well. There is a net benefit across the board.

The academic environment traditionally takes a more long-term view than the research and development sector.

It may look at areas that technical firms would not look at because they would not see a quick return on it. Academic research can also lead to new technology and other benefits. This is where I see the benefit coming from.