The European Commission's Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy has announced the 25 finalists of the 2020 RegioStars competition for the best EU Cohesion policy projects. Our ARCTIC PACER partner CYNIC, or 'Cyber security in Innovation and Business Communication' project (funded by Interreg Nord), is one of the five finalists in the category of 'Skills & Education for a digital Europe'!
The RegioStars awards demonstrate excellence of EU-funded interreg projects in regional development. Since 2008, every year five categories and a public choice award are granted. “This year we have received the highest number of RegioStars applications ever - 206. This shows the growing value of this competition which puts EU cohesion policy best practices in the spotlight and rewards committed project beneficiaries for their excellent implementation of EU funding on the ground”, commented Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.
More about CYNIC
The project started in October 2018 and it is a cooperation between two academic partners, Centria University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). CYNIC aims to support SMEs by giving them access to a neutral test and learning environment, in this case a dynamic and safe cross-border physical and virtual lab environment, in which companies can learn from each other and research about shared challenges and problems.
The project has identified that uncertainty and a risk focus are some of the obstacles to SMEs willingness to invest in new business models which are tailored for digitalisation and digital services. According to CYNIC partners, better insights and a sound IT-, Cyber-, Information Security behaviour can be fostered by providing a possibility for SMES to test and evaluate solutions in a secure training and learning environment. Therefore, CYNIC has developed training material for increasing awareness about digital information security as supports services for SMEs and IT companies. The focus is to bring together human and technical aspects, to incorporate information security risk management in ordinary work routines.
The public can now vote for their favorite project until the 15th of September. The winners will be announced on the 14th October, during the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels.
Best of luck, CYNIC!