Ben-Gurion University Gets $8.5 Million for Cyber Research Center

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) announced that it has signed a $8.5 million agreement with the Israel National Cyber Bureau to develop CyberSpark, which includes a National Cyber Research Center adjacent to BGU’s campus.

CyberSpark was conceived as an innovative research and development ecosystem of major multinational corporations, business incubators, BGU researchers, Israel Defense Force units, and government agencies all operating out of the new Advanced Technologies Park in Beer-Sheva, Israel.

“Under the three-year agreement, CyberSpark will advance long-term theoretical research and will become a foundational pillar of technological development in Israel in the field of cyber security,” says Prof. Dan Blumberg, deputy vice president of research and development and head of BGU’s Homeland Security Institute.

Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin and IBM both announced they would invest in CyberSpark R&D facilities, joining other cybersecurity leaders Deutsche Telekom, EMC, RSA and many startups at CyberSpark located in the new Advanced Technology Park at BGU.

BGU has been involved in cyber security research for more than a decade through the partnership with Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories, a subsidiary of the German telecommunications company, located on the BGU campus.

BGU Prof. Yuval Elovici, director of DT Laboratories and a lecturer in the Department of Information Systems Engineering, will also oversee CyberSpark and its collaboration with the University’s Homeland Security Institute.

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