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European Cybersecurity Competence Centre and Network
News article10 May 2023Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology

The Access-2-Finance matchmaking series has kicked off in Copenhagen

The ECCC's first Access-2-Finance event took place in Copenhagen on 9 May 2023, connecting EU cybersecurity start-ups with investors. Francesco Barbato of the EU Commission spoke and a panel discussed cyber defence capability development.

Access-2-Finance

Yesterday, 9 May 2023, the first ECCC Access-2-Finance event took place in Copenhagen, and we would like to warmly thank the Danish National Coordination Centre (NCC), the Danish innovation cluster for defence, space & security (Censec), Aalborg University and the CyberHub led by DigitalLead for their hospitality. Through the Access-2-Finance matchmaking series, the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) develops and strengthens the liaison between the European cybersecurity start-ups, scale-ups and leading investors in Europe to boost the European cybersecurity market. Opening remarks were held by Head of Sector at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission, Francesco Barbato, followed by a presentation of the pitches by the selected start-ups, and a heated panel debate on the hottest topic today: cyber defence capability development.

In his opening speech, Francesco Barbato highlighted that on Europe Day itself (9 May), the ECCC building and new offices in Bucharest have finally been inaugurated. In addition to being a new European body with a new framework for research and innovation for cybersecurity in Europe, the ECCC will also interconnect NCCs to create coordination among the Member States in the cybersecurity industry. On this note, Mr. Barbato then proceeded to welcome the first event of the ECCC Access-2-Finance matchmaking event series, with the aim to strengthen the European cybersecurity market and cybersecurity community.

In light of strengthening Europe, and of the ongoing war in Ukraine, cyber defence has never been more topical than today. Experts in their field were invited to participate in a panel discussion on strengthening and increasing cyber defence capabilities in Denmark, and the lessons for Europe. Focal point of discussion was the enhancement of capability development. Particular attention was brought to strategies aiming at augmenting the pool of professionals, fostering investments in the sector and ensuring the sustenance of the continuously evolving cybersecurity ecosystem in Denmark, and Europe. Regarding investors, the need to upskill investors and assist the investor community in becoming more knowledgeable was highlighted. Lastly, according to the Danish NCC,  Denmark is currently in a nascent phase of building its legal framework to effectively engage at EU level. Main attention will be directed towards the initiation process of companies ( I.e. strategies to scale start-ups), as well as SMEs.

Lastly, a European Jury, consisting of experts in their field, had the difficult task of deliberating on the start-up’s pitches. After two rounds of pitches from the selected top start-ups in Europe, and after close deliberation by the Jury panel, the ECCC is glad to congratulate the two nominees from the Danish edition of the Access-2-Finance matchmaking event:  ONEKEY and  Seculyze. The two nominees have put themselves amongst the best of the European cybersecurity domain and will move on to the final competition to win the ECSO STARtup Award.