Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy opens opportunities for Baltic firms

Australia’s recently released 2023-2030 Cyber Security Strategy has opened up opportunities between the Australian and Baltic cyber ecosystems.

The Strategy outlines Australia’s roadmap for becoming a global cyber leader by 2030. The Australian Government will commit A$586.9 million to the Strategy out to 2030. This is on top of a commitment to fund A$2.3 billion of existing related initiatives (Australian Government, (22 November 2023), Cyber strategy signals generational shift in response to growing threat [media release], accessed April 2024). The Strategy is supported by an Action Plan detailing the key initiatives that will start in the next two years.

Now is the time for Baltic cyber firms to partner with Australia to develop cyber security solutions and operate regional security operation centres (SOCs).

Increasing demand for global cyber expertise

Australia is the world’s second most attractive destination for foreign direct investment for cyber security (FDi markets via Austrade Insights). The country generated the world’s ninth largest revenue in cyber security in 2022, growing around 9% per year on average (AustCyber, Australia’s Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan 2022 [PDF, 14.6 MB], February 2023).

The Australian Government has legislated positive cyber security obligations for businesses deemed ‘critical infrastructure’ across 11 industries. The obligations require over 2,000 businesses to develop a risk management program to address cyber security, driving cyber uplift among key businesses in the economy.

In Australia, Baltic companies will find:

• a skilled talent pool underpinned by a pipeline of industry-ready vocational and tertiary graduates
• a strong research ecosystem of world-leading universities, including 7 universities that are in the global top 100 for computer science, putting Australia in third place for most number of universities in the top 100 (QS World University Ranking, 2022)
• growing domestic demand for cyber products and services
• a launchpad – with a shared time zone – to Asian cyber markets.

Lithuania and Australia partner on Hybrid Threat Centre

Launched in February 2022, the Australia-Lithuania Cyber Research Network (ALCRN) is a joint initiative between RMIT University and Mykolas Romeris University. The network connects cyber security researchers, students and industry and government practitioners across both countries.

Its first initiative is the Hybrid Threat Centre, launched in December 2022. This is the first Hybrid Threat Centre in Australia, further enhancing RMIT’s leadership in cyber security research and building on its collaboration with Europe.

Australia has also been a member of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), based in Tallinn, since 2018.

Opportunities for Baltic cyber firms in Australia

Baltic companies can explore opportunities in:

• developing cyber security operations centres and product innovations centres
• R&D into products, techniques and technology to defend infrastructure and cyber assets
• assisting Australian business with meeting cyber defence needs – both regulatory and non-regulatory
• testing and trialling new products and innovation
• constructing Australia-based data centres to house and service Australian data.

Austrade support

Lithuania is the second cyber-safest country in the world (Surfshark, Digital Quality of Life Index, 2023). Growing partnerships between our countries will open doors to new business opportunities and increased cyber safety for all.

Austrade can:

• provide information on local market regulations
• make introductions to Australian stakeholders such as research centres, universities and R&D partners
• provide referrals to professional service providers
• organise site visits to Australia.

Contact Austrade’s Senior Business Development Manager for the Baltics, Živilė Kriščiūnė, for more information. Austrade also supports Estonian and Latvian companies interested in expanding to or partnering with Australia.