The Motivation: Collaborative Innovation
In 2007, MIT scientist Peter Gloor published a seminal paper on the concept of "Collaborative Innovation Network", which Gloor defined as "a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision... achieving a common goal by sharing ideas, information, and work."
In today's competitive environment, sharing information and expertise is critical in driving both individual and organizational success. In fact, true innovation is virtually impossible without collaboration, and innovation is indispensable to success. IBM, in forming a Cyber Security Center of Excellence in BGU in partnership with BGU, is thus exercising the concept of collaborative innovation.
And very symbolically, Gloor's concept of a cyberteam is materializing here, as the joint research team of IBM and BGU is pursuing advanced R&D in cyber security and, more broadly, conducts collaborative studies on protection of critical infrastructure and assets against emerging cyber threats. In doing so, IBM and BGU are leveraging complementary strengths and expertise.
Why Israel?
In the so-called Start-Up Nation, technology-savvy youth often develop deep computing education in high school or earlier, and many of them join the elite communications and cyber defense units of the Israeli Defense Forces. Following a professional army service where they work 20 hours a day, young Israeli men and women typically join the Israel academic education system, which is among the best in the world. In their mid-twenties, many young Israeli engineers start to work in technology companies, or start their own VC-backed companies, many of them in the area of network and system security. In this environment, strong security companies grow; among them are companies like Guardium, WatchFire and Trusteer, which have been acquired by IBM and are now a key part of IBM's global security R&D team.
Why BGU?
Ben-Gurion University has well recognized expertise and a broad education program designed to provide researchers and professionals a very high level of training in the field of Information Security.
In 2012, BGU became the first Israeli university to offer graduate study tracks in cyber security, a joint initiative with the Departments of Information Systems Engineering and Computer Science.
For more details on BGU's cyber education programs, click here.
For the broad vision of the cyber ecosystem around the university, see PM Netanyahu's keynote in Cybertech 2017.
For more details on IBM's engagement in the cyber ecosystem in the Negev, click here (Channel 10 program, see time 15:12 - 24:40).