Back The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa launches aid for the cybersecurity of companies worth more than 360,000 euros

2024 / 04 / 25
Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundiak 360.000 eurotik gorako zuzkidura duen laguntza-programa abiarazi du Gipuzkoako enpresetan zibersegurtasuna sustatzeko. Ekonomia Sustapen eta Proiektu Estrategikoetako Sailak sustatutako dirulaguntza horiek bi lerro aurreikusten dituzte: zibersegurtasuna lurraldeko erakundeetan eta produktu industrial zibersegurua. Interesa duten enpresa txiki eta ertainek bi lerroetarako laguntzak eska ditzakete, bateragarriak baitira, baina eskaera desberdinak egin beharko dituzte. Era berean, aurtengo berritasun gisa, enpresa bakoitzaren gutxieneko muga 300.000 eurora igo da.

The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa launches aid for the cybersecurity of companies worth more than 360,000 euros

The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has launched an aid program to promote cybersecurity in companies in Gipuzkoa that has a budget of more than 360,000 euros. These subsidies, promoted by the Department of Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects, contemplate two lines: cybersecurity in the territory's organizations and the industrial cybersecurity product. Interested SMEs can request aid from both lines, since they are compatible, but they must make different requests. Likewise, as a novelty this year, the minimum limit per company has been raised to 300,000 euros.

The deadline for submitting applications will end on September 15, 2024. In the case of the 'Cybersecurity in companies in Gipuzkoa' and the 'Cybersafe Industrial Product' projects, applications must be submitted within 40 calendar days after the publication in the Official Gazette of Gipuzkoa on April 24.

The design of this aid program framed in Gipuzkoa Digitala has been contrasted with professionals from ZIUR, the Industrial Cybersecurity Center of Gipuzkoa. In this sense, a two-line call has been proposed and support for obtaining certifications that the European Union will require from 2026 has been incorporated.

The 'Cybersecurity in companies in Gipuzkoa' line has a budget of 275,601 euros. These aid are aimed at subsidizing the expenses derived from hiring specialized advice to carry out diagnostic work on the hardware/software situation in relation to cybersecurity and the organizational status of the company in this field; the drafting of a cybersecurity plan and the support in its deployment and execution. In this last section, projects for network segmentation, vulnerability detection and management, asset inventory in an industrial network, employee awareness and training, and adaptation to applicable security regulations or standards will be considered eligible for subsidy. In addition, the costs of specialized advice for carrying out work to adapt to cybersecurity regulations or recommendations in the destination country and sector, both national and foreign, will also be eligible for subsidies.

Each organization may submit a maximum of two initiatives and the maximum subsidy per company will be 15,000 euros. In companies with less than 50 employees, projects will be subsidized at 60%, while in organizations with between 50 and 249 it will be 50%. In addition, an additional 15% will be subsidized by those projects that have carried out a self-diagnostic analysis that confirms the methodology promoted by ZIUR. The self-diagnosis is available on the website https://diagnostikoa.ziur.eus.

Regarding the aid line for the 'Cybersecurity Industrial Product', it reaches an amount of 87,537 euros. These subsidies are aimed at companies that develop and/or design industrial devices to encourage them to implement cybersecurity from design and make available the possibility of testing/testing the security of their products in industrial laboratories. Companies with their own products that carry out their activity in Gipuzkoa may be beneficiaries, provided that the results of the project to be supported are directly applicable to these facilities.

Each entity may only present a single project and these initiatives must commit to carrying out a pre-diagnosis of the product to be tested in the Ziur Fundazioa laboratories. The eligible actions will consist of the development of tests of industrial products in order to ensure their reliability, from the point of view of cybersecurity. The work must be carried out with the intervention of an agent external to the company, a specialist in the field of cybersecurity.

Projects will be subsidized at 50% in the case of companies with less than 50 employees; 40% in organizations with between 50 and 249 workers; and 25% of more than 249 workers. In addition, aid may increase by 15% in the event that the company commits to collaborating with ZIUR throughout the development of the subsidized project. The maximum aid per project and year will be 20,000 euros.

The bases of this Gipuzkoa Digitala aid program can be consulted here: BOG nº 79, April 24, 2024.