Cisco Opens First Cybersecurity Co-Innovation Center in Europe

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Cisco's first Cybersecurity Co-Innovation Center in Europe opened its doors in Milan today at the Leonardo da Vinci Science and Technology Museum. The center was inaugurated in the presence of Paola Pisano, Minister for Technological Innovation and Digitization; Roberto Baldoni, Deputy Director General of DIS (Prime Ministerial Department of Security Information); and Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan. Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins gave the inaugural address, joined by the CEO of Cisco Italy, Agostino Santoni, Pastora Valero, VP Government Affairs Europe, and several international executives who supported the initiative.

Cisco’s first European center for Co-Innovation in Cybersecurity

The new center, the first for Cisco in Europe, is dedicated to cybersecurity and privacy. It will focus on complex supply chains, IoT technologies, critical country infrastructures like utilities, smart grids and 5G—as well as public digital services with embedded security.

Furthermore, the center will support threat intelligence research and security incident response capabilities. It will provide workshops for the development of innovative solutions focused on cybersecurity and privacy, as well as space for developers and researchers to use.

Pastora Valero, Vice President of Government Affairs EMEAR at Cisco said “As the world’s largest vendor of security solutions, Cisco is compelled to help our customers, partners, governments and all citizens to digitize securely.”

“Our first cybersecurity co-innovation center in Europe will enable more research, foster greater innovation and build capacity to create solutions for the most pressing societal security challenges, such as the security, resiliency and privacy of critical infrastructure which are at the core of secure digitization.  We know this is a priority in Europe and we are delighted to have opened this space alongside the Italian Government that will see the benefits extend across the whole region.”

Supporting A Secure Digital Europe

The innovation center in Milan is part of Cisco’s ongoing investment in cybersecurity and, with six co-innovation centers in Europe, this ongoing investment in the EU supports the European Commission’s and Parliament’s aspiration to create a more secure future for citizens across the region.

Cisco’s Co-Innovation Centers around the world are hubs for open innovation, bringing together communities of customers, partners, start-ups, accelerators, governments, universities and research communities to foster the exploration and development of new technologies.

The Milan center is funded by investments through Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) Program – a global initiative designed to accelerate national digitization agendas in partnership and collaboration with national, state, and local governments. This co-innovation center comes as part of a broader series of strategic initiatives between Cisco and the Italian government since 2016.  

In addition, Cisco currently has completed over 250 projects to help accelerate digitization across Europe in collaboration with government leadership, of which nearly 40 are focused on cybersecurity in these countries.

Cisco’s investment into cybersecurity also extends to supporting students in gaining essential digital skills.  Over the past ten years, 144,595 students in the 28 EU countries have taken cybersecurity courses through Cisco Networking Academy.  This includes 43,860 in the last fiscal year alone (FY19).