CSIT, the UK’s lead university centre for cyber security research, is based at Queen’s University Belfast and encourages collaboration among academics, researchers, engineers, industry and government to accelerate the results of cyber and physical security research through to commercial application.

Invest NI made the announcement on Thursday (May 18), revealing that CSIT will generate investment of £38.5m in research & development, which will encourage the growth of the cyber security sector here.

It was also announced that US based cyber security firm Anomali will create 120 new jobs with the opening of its European Research and Development Labs in Belfast.

Welcoming the investments, Alastair Hamilton, CEO of Invest NI said: “Northern Ireland is enjoying a growing international reputation as a region of expertise and knowledge in cyber security. Today’s announcement of both a new inward investor, the Anomali R&D Labs, and a significant investment by CSIT will only see this reputation continue to grow.”

Northern Ireland is the number one location in the world for cyber security inward investment (FT fDI Markets 2013-16) and the number one global destination for US cyber security companies with an eye for international expansion.

Alastair Hamilton continued, “CSIT’s investment in R&D encompasses a very complex technology project which will be undertaken by a team of experts over a five year period and will help to grow the cyber security cluster in Northern Ireland.

“CSIT’s contribution to research and development enhances Northern Ireland’s reputation as a world leader in cyber security and has seen the development of some of the latest technologies and solutions to help businesses tackle the continued threats from operating in a digital environment.

“The economic benefits of the cyber security industry to Northern Ireland are evident which is why we have identified it as one of our growth priorities within our new Business Strategy.”

Dr Godfrey Gaston, Director of CSIT at Queen’s said: “CSIT’s position as the UK’s national Innovation and Knowledge Centre for cyber security research reflects the critical mass of researchers who are working with industrially experienced engineers to accelerate the translation of new innovations in this area through to global markets.

“This core funding from Invest NI has been fundamental in enabling us to leverage further support and investment from EPSRC, InnovateUK and Queen’s University as well as leading international businesses such as Allstate and Equiniti to help address this significant global challenge and economic opportunity.

“Through our CSIT Labs programme we are helping the next generation of cyber security start-ups and SMEs such as B-Secur and Uleska scale-up and compete internationally.”

Invest NI’s support is part funded by ERDF under the EU Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.

Media

Media inquiries to Emma Gallagher, Communications Officer at Queen’s University on 028 9097 5384 and emma.gallagher@qub.ac.uk