Airbus and the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at ILA Berlin 2022 to open a center of excellence for cybersecurity and trustworthy artificial intelligence in Saarland, Germany. The "Airbus-CISPA Digital Innovation Hub" will be located at the CISPA Innovation Campus in St. Ingbert and will start operations this year with the intention to grow to around 100 experts within the next three years. In the long term, Airbus and CISPA are jointly aiming to grow the competence center to more than 500 experts.
“Joining efforts with a renowned German research institution like CISPA is a key step in our strategy to continue strengthening our top-notch cybersecurity capabilities and expertise. At Airbus we are firmly committed to continue investing in the technologies and resources of the present and the future, which will enable us to be at the forefront of tomorrow’s challenges, ever more digital. To achieve this ambition we are carefully selecting the right partners, and the creation of this competence center is a great example of our long-term vision and investment in innovation”, said Evert Dudok, Executive Vice President Connected Intelligence at Airbus Defence and Space.
CISPA Founding Director and CEO Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Backes says, "The talks with Airbus were very trustful and constructive right from the start. Just like us, they want to reach for the stars in the future topics of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence and were looking for the strongest partner to do so. The combination of our know-how, reputation and excellent specialists will foster the creation of new opportunities to bring our research into application through attractive and future-proof jobs in Saarland. After the establishment of our Innovation Campus, the now starting large-scale collaboration with Airbus constitutes a key milestone towards our overarching goal of creating 10.000 jobs in the next 20 years and thereby serve as the driving force for the successful structure change of the State of Saarland”.
The CISPA Innovation Campus currently under construction in St. Ingbert offers a unique space for established companies to settle but also for start-ups, which will get support to the financing and implementation of their innovative ideas with a new venture capital fund of 50 million euros set up specifically by CISPA.
With this partnership between Airbus and CISPA, the information security research institution as well as the Innovation Campus and Saarland aim to become even more attractive for young talents from all over the world.