The University of New Brunswick’s Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity has another partner: The National Research Council said Monday it has opened a new hub in its facility on the Fredericton campus to jointly work on research.
Called the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity-NRC Cybersecurity Collaboration Consortium (CNCCC), the partners hope it will lead to discoveries and advances in cybersecurity including publications, patents, the commercialization of technology, as well as provide training opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
Specifically, it will focus on the security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which are increasingly being used in critical infrastructure; artificial intelligence; human-computer interaction; and natural language processing.
The hub brings together 50 researchers and students from the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity (CIC) and the NRC.
Physically, it takes advantage of the cybersecurity institute’s recent move from the faculty of computer science into the NRC building on the university’s campus.
“NRC has had a presence on the campus for 15 years,” explained Danny D’Amours, site lead for NRC Fredericton, in an interview,” and we’ve had some informal projects in the sector. NCR wants to grow its cyber security capacity and its investment in the area. With local partners like the CIC who are doing excellent work already, there’s an opportunity for synergistic collaboration. We can bring complimtary skills on projects, so we decided to collaborate.”
“This collaboration centre brings together leading researchers to form a joint team and make significant advances in cybersecurity for Canadians,” NCR president Iain Stewart said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with the University of New Brunswick’s Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity and look forward to the success of this exciting collaboration.”
Institute director Ali Ghorbani noted in a statement that UNB has been working on cybersecurity research and innovation since the turn of the century. “Our leadership in cybersecurity is recognized in the 2018 Senate report on the state of cybersecurity in Canada as well as in the recent federal budget. The primary goal of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity-National Research Council Cybersecurity Collaboration Consortium (CNCCC) in Fredericton is to strengthen Canada’s leadership in cybersecurity research, innovation, and talent development.”
The institute’s most recent member was the TD Bank, which joined Bell Canada, IBM Canada and McCain Foods as founding members.
Separately last year Siemens Canada opened a global cybersecurity centre of excellence in Fredericton in the fall to help research on the company’s critical infrastructure products, which include gas turbines for power stations, automation systems for factories to road and rail traffic management systems.