OpenCloudification is financed by VLAIO, the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and realized by the following partners:
LSEC – Leaders In Security : association of digital security companies and digital security users
IMEC – IDLab : the world renowned research center on nano-electronics and digital technologies, represented by its core research group the Internet Technology and Data Science Lab
The Beacon : connecting digital innovators to solve the challenges of cities, ports and industries.
And additionally supported by the following partners:
Skyscrapers
Intuits
Among the target groups, therefore, there is definitely a need to transfer knowledge and make
continuously evolving solutions. IMEC-ID Lab has been part of the world’s top knowledge center and R&D within the domain. LSEC has been active for more than twenty years active in supporting
companies with CyberSecurity and has over the past ten years been leading the Cloud developments in the field of CyberSecurity. LSEC has hosted more than one hundred different inspiration, information and training sessions, with CyberSecurity as the central aspect and in which several thousands of companies have participated. During the various discussions with the companies, the same challenges were identified each time: the cloud domain has become too large and complex to fully grasp and keep up with the evolutions of recent years, and often commercial cloud consultants prefer to guide a company to partner solutions (i.e. if the consulting firm is an Amazon partner, then Amazon proprietary solutions are proposed, if one is an Azure partner, then Microsoft proprietary solutions are proposed, etc.) without providing insight into vendor-neutral alternatives.
EXPERTISE
The consortium consists of three project partners: LSEC, IDLab-imec and The Beacon. In the composition of this consortium, the complementarity of the expertise of the project partners was central.
LSEC has extensive experience in service delivery and interaction with companies in the field of cybersecurity. IDLab has built up years of expertise around scalable cloud-based applications, edge/cloud-based architectures and container orchestration systems (e.g. Kubernetes). Moreover, the project partners can build on their strong valorization track record to bring this project to a successful conclusion. This mainly translates into collaborations in the framework of European research projects, but also in bilateral projects and direct services. LSEC has been some 20 years raising awareness of cybersecurity and information security at home and abroad, as well as active in industry-driven research and collective knowledge dissemination. In recent years more than 50 Flemish companies have been guided in their innovation paths by LSEC in Flemish and European innovation programs and several projects (DigiHub, DIH, EU-INNOSUP), also providing the funding itself to the companies. ID-Lab guides its members through direct consultancy, collaborative projects and technological innovations. Below we briefly explain the expertise of each of the project partners in more detail:
LSEC is a Flemish non-profit organization, which almost 20 years ago set itself the goal of creating a center of expertise in CyberSecurity, by assembling a network of experts who help secure electronic data and information systems. The association consists primarily of Flemish companies, European and global technology, consulting providers, and individual experts. The association organizes activities to stimulate the development and dissemination of knowledge, improve the use of information security, and that support innovation and development of the sector. LSEC is a spin-off of XX. LSEC has, with more than 650 corporate members, a very extensive local and international network of expertise and experts, reaching out to more than 15,000 companies in Belgium and the rest of Europe. LSEC grew in recent years into a reference in the field of industrial CyberSecurity and has been working for years with U.S. cybersecurity bodies such as NIST, MITRE, NTIA, MIT and others. LSEC itself is also active in the field of research and development, mainly in the framework of European projects (Horizon Europe/2020) and in Flanders in the context of research into the practical application of Industry 4.0 (via 3if.eu and 3if.be living labs). LSEC is primarily an implementing partner, organizing the knowledge translation and technology dissemination activities, but in the industrial context also conducts applied research (ConnectedFactories – CyberSecurity roadmap, TRINITY – CyberSecurity for Robotics, IDIoTS – research on standards and certification developments, etc.).
IDLab-imec – Imec was founded in 1984 as an independent research center for micro- and later nanoelectronics.
The goal is to bundle all academic knowledge on chip technology in Flanders. Because that technology is the engine for the third industrial revolution – and thus for the lasting prosperity of the region. Since 2016, iMinds (formerly IBBT), Flanders’ strategic research center in the field of digital innovation, is part of imec. As a result, today at imec you will find both soft- and hardware under one roof. Imec supports Flemish industry in various ways: through bilateral partnerships, companies develop together with imec innovative services and products in which imec technology makes the difference. Through customized training programs and feasibility studies, imec shares knowledge about technological evolutions and the opportunities they offer. Thanks to demand-driven initiatives such as the imec.icon projects or imec City of Things, imec strengthens the Flemish innovation potential. With spin-offs and the accelerator programs imec.istart and imec.xpand imec helps shape the flourishing Flemish tech start-up landscape.
The Beacon is an independent association founded in December 2019 by six major organizations – the
founding members of The Beacon: the City of Antwerp, Port of Antwerp, Lantis, University of Antwerp, Agoria and Imec. Their shared ambitions were to establish a platform that could catluzation between the 6 companies, strengthening ties with technology companies, with a physical presence in Antwerp. Today, The Beacon is a dynamic community of innovative companies active in digital technologies. There is a sectoral focus on ports and logistics, industry, mobility and smart cities. The intention is to stimulate collaboration between all members of the community. The Beacon wants to explore the possibilities of digitalization, where state-of-the-art technology can be offered, both in physical and virtual environments. The business of The Beacon consists in creating interaction points between members, thereby fostering relationships and collaboration.
The collaboration with LSEC and The Beacon within this project should provide unique in-depth knowledge about design and operational deployments of edge/cloud-based applications in a secure way, for applications within the target group. The focus is on spreading the necessary knowledge to deploy in a vendor-neutral and where possible cost-efficient way (e.g. by avoiding expensive licenses but embracing mature open-source projects) cloud-based applications. Moreover, within IDLab there is access to a wide range of test labs where demonstrators can be built via iLab.t test facilities. For example, there is an opportunity to set up and evaluate edge/cloud systems, Kubernetes or OpenStack environments and there can be PoCs/demonstrators that can be conducted in a user-friendly manner through iLab.t’s facilities.