The Gipuzkoa industry is fully committed to ZIUR's first acceleration program to comply with European cybersecurity regulations
The Gipuzkoa industry is fully committed to ZIUR's first acceleration program to comply with European cybersecurity regulations
The Gipuzkoa industry is fully committed to ZIUR's first acceleration program to comply with European cybersecurity regulations
The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, through its ZIUR Foundation —Industrial Cybersecurity Center—, has officially presented to the region's industry the first Acceleration Program for compliance with European cybersecurity regulations for connected industrial products, a pioneering initiative with a budget of 3 million euros. Its purpose is to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and adaptability of Gipuzkoa's business sector in the face of regulations that will affect all industrial products with digital connectivity.
Around 80 leading companies from the region attended the launch of the ZIUR program, which took place at the Mubil facilities. During the presentation, the Deputy for Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects, Unai Andueza, stated that "the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa considers this project a key initiative to ensure the competitiveness of the business sector and improve its value proposition in the market." “The high level of participation we see today demonstrates the shared challenge faced by the institution, manufacturers, and developers in the face of a regulatory framework that will transform the competitiveness of the industry,” he stated.
The event included two roundtables that brought together key players from the industrial and cybersecurity ecosystem. The first, titled “A Consortium with Leading Players to Drive the Program” and moderated by María Penilla, CEO of ZIUR, featured presentations by Javier Benito (Director of Telefónica Euskadi), Salva Trujillo (CEO of ORBIK), and Pablo Echevarría (CEO of Thales), who discussed the importance of cooperation to accelerate regulatory adaptation.
The second panel, ‘How to Successfully Face the Certification of a Connected Product (HW or SW)’, was moderated by Urko Zurutuza, coordinator of the Data Analysis and Cybersecurity Research Group at Mondragon University. It brought together Juan Rico (Senior Program Manager for Oniro and Cloud at the Eclipse Foundation), Amor Domínguez (Business Development Manager for TÜV ViT, part of the TÜV NORD Group), and David Rivera Castro (Industrial Communications Sales Engineer at Siemens S.A.), who shared key insights and practical experiences regarding the certification processes that will shape the future of connected industrial products.
Consulting, Diagnostics, and Vulnerability Analysis
This initiative is made possible through the collaboration of leading companies, including Telefónica, Thales, Orbik, and other key players such as Vicomtech, Ikerlan, the Mondragon Corporation, and AFM. Together, they form an ecosystem capable of offering advanced assessment, testing, and certification services. As explained by the director of ZIUR, all companies in the region will have access to the services associated with the program, which will prepare them to move forward in complying with new European regulations such as the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), UNECE R-155, ISO 21434, MDR, and RED, which will particularly affect sectors such as automotive, medical devices, and radio equipment.
The project includes the dissemination of certification activities, training workshops, sector-specific consulting, and the performance of audits and vulnerability analyses of industrial components. To this end, the participating organizations will provide companies with access to three industrial cybersecurity laboratories and a team of 10 specialists in OT, IoT, and IoMT for the 24-month duration of the project. The plan is to evaluate up to 80 products. SMEs with their registered office or tax domicile in Gipuzkoa that develop connected products can submit their application through: https://www.ziur.eus/en/observatory/industrial-product-evaluation-project
A Strategic Boost
The project aims to position Gipuzkoa as a national and international leader in the cybersecurity assessment of industrial components and devices. Its impact is expected to be significant in the short and medium term, fostering new technical and professional capabilities in companies that provide industrial cybersecurity services and enabling companies in the region to anticipate regulatory and market demands.
In this regard, it seeks to help the industrial sector understand and meet the cybersecurity needs that its market and various regulatory requirements will demand, create a collaborative and open ecosystem specializing in product cybersecurity assessments, continue adding value to the region's business fabric, and generate, attract, and accelerate the creation of startups and talent in Gipuzkoa.