EU Launches Cybersecurity Partnership With $2Bln Investment Potential

European Union will invest some $500 million in the partnership under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, while some $1.5 billion of investment is to be provided by cybersecurity market players, according to press release.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Commission launched Tuesday a public-private partnership on cybersecurity with the potential to attract around $2 billion of investment by 2020, according to a press release published on the Commission's website.

"Europe needs high quality, affordable and interoperable cybersecurity products and services. We call on Member States and all cybersecurity bodies to strengthen cooperation and pool their knowledge, information and expertise to increase Europe's cyber resilience. The milestone partnership on cybersecurity signed today with the industry is a major step," the press release quoted Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Guenther Oettinger as saying.

According to the press release, the European Union will invest some $500 million in the partnership under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, while some $1.5 billion of investment is to be provided by cybersecurity market players.

"The aim of the partnership is to foster cooperation at early stages of the research and innovation process and to build cybersecurity solutions for various sectors, such as energy, health, transport and finance," the press release read.

The partnership is based on the provisions of the 2015 Digital Single Market strategy, the 2013 EU Cybersecurity strategy and the Network and Information Security Directive which is expected to be adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday.