Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitisation Sebastian Burduja underscored on Tuesday the importance of launching the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) in Bucharest, in the campus of the Politehnica University, showing that it is a historic day for Romania, write Agerpres.

„It is very important that this centre does not remain just a building, just a flag here of the European Union and that it is the centre of an ecosystem of innovation and the stars have aligned to be in a prestigious campus together with the academic environment, together with Romanian Start-ups in cybersecurity, together with the public environment and with all the institutions in the public sphere, those dealing with cybersecurity. The effort is fully complementary to what Romania’s Government has been working on over the last year or so. We are talking about the Cyber Security and Defence Law, we are talking about the cloud law and the framework for this strategic investment of the Romanian state, we are talking about new approaches in the area of artificial intelligence,” Burduja stated at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, at the launching ceremony of the ECCC activity.

The new European Cybersecurity Competence Centre was inaugurated with the participation of Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and high European officials.

The Centre will support innovation and industrial policy in the area of cybersecurity and develop and coordinate EU cybersecurity projects.

The ECCC is responsible for the management of funds for the current EU long-term budget (2021 – 2027), in particular the adoption of cybersecurity work programmes, as well as with the management of cyber projects within the „Digital Europe” and „Horizon Europe” programmes.

It will also manage security operations centre projects as part of the Commission’s proposal for a European cyber shield and work with a network of national coordination centres in view of creating an ecosystem for innovation and competitiveness in cybersecurity across the EU.