Industry and Startups

Karnataka is a leader in the development of technological solutions within India. We must now become self-reliant in critical technologies, particularly in cyber security solutions, to meet the requirements of a future-ready India. It is therefore crucial that the local cyber security industry and start-ups are encouraged to grow and thrive. The CoE will enable the following activities.

• Incubation programme: The start-ups that are working in the domain of cyber security will have an opportunity to interact with other start-ups in the IISc campus. The incubation programme will provide the start-ups an open window to join the programme and a longer duration to leverage the benefits that are part of the recently concluded accelerator programme. The CoE will also facilitate start-ups with access to legal, accounting and other such administrative and regulatory requirements. The incubation programme will also support start-ups with government pilots, so that the government can act as an early adopter and validator of cyber security solutions from start-ups where possible. Opportunities will be provided to select start-ups to conduct a proof of concept or pilot implementation with appropriate government entities where a matching use case exists.
• Mentoring to start-ups and MSMEs: Mentoring will be provided to start-ups and MSMEs, to sensitise them to cyber risks and to instil a culture of “security by design” and “privacy by design”. This will be complemented with a Learning Management System (LMS) that can be made available to start-ups and MSMEs to make their staff aware of cyber best practices from an enterprise perspective. The CoE will setup a vulnerability scanning service to these entities to make it easy for them to manage their attack surface and prioritise corrective actions.
• CISO-KA community: The CoE had successfully established a robust community comprising prominent Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) located in Karnataka. This community serves as a valuable resource for acquiring technical expertise to enhance various capacity-building programs. The CISO-KA community has played a pivotal role in contributing to the development of the CoE’s curriculum. Additionally, they have generously facilitated industrial visits for both students and faculty, offered Subject Matter Experts for the Cyber Maatrika initiative, participated in faculty training sessions, and provided mentoring support for start-ups. This community will be expanded as the need arises and the support of the wider community will be leveraged for various outreach programmes like cyber risk awareness sessions and trainings for students, faculty, government staff and law enforcement agencies.
• Flagship event: The CoE will conduct an annual flagship cyber security conference in partnership with KDEM, bringing together the community. of researchers, industry professionals, government departments and academics.