CIDAUT has led the organization of a meeting to analyze the opportunities of the strategic project for the recovery and economic transformation (PERTE) of the aerospace sector.

On 28 june 2022 the innovation ecosystem of the aerospace sector of Castilla y Leon met place in León Technological Park (Leon, Spain) to analyze the opportunities of the strategic project for the recovery and economic transformation (PERTE) of the aerospace sector

Aerospace Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), is a public-private collaboration instrument to boost science and innovation in the aerospace field with the aim of responding to the challenges of the sector, such as climate change, global security and digital transition. Thanks to this strategic project, public administrations, companies and R&D&I centers will have the opportunity to work in coordination to strengthen the capabilities of the aeronautical and space industry, promoting the development and implementation of innovative technologies, including technologies that support the development of the zero-emission aircraft. The Aerospace PERTE also aims to strengthen Spain’s position in the space sector with initiatives such as the creation of the Spanish Space Agency, which will establish new mechanisms to coordinate space activities at the national level and Spanish participation in international programs.

Within this framework, last Monday 28th of June took place in the Leon Technological Park (León, Spain) an important event which brought together a broad representation of Castilla y León´s innovation ecosystem of the aerospace sector. This event was organized by CIDAUT Foundation and CTME in cooperation with Institute for Business Competitiveness of Castilla y León (ICE) under the training and support Program for R&D Business Centr@Tec.

The official opening of this event was carried out by Mr. Carlos Javier Fernández Carriedo (Councilor for Economy and Treasury of the Regional Government of Castilla y León), Mrs. Teresa Riesgo (President of the Center for Industrial Technological Development CDTI and Secretary General of Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain), Mr. Joaquín Barreiro García (Director of the Faculty of Industrial, Computer Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of León) and Mr. José Antonio Diez (Mayor of León).

Next, Mr. Roberto Trigo Martínez (Head of the Department of Large Scientific Facilities and Dual Programs at CDTI) and Mr. Vicente Giner Herrera (Responsible for Telecommunications Programs in the Space Department of CDTI) showed the Aerospace PERTE as a strategic project for the recovery and economic transformation of the national aerospace sector, deepening both in the aeronautical pillar (Aeronautical Technological Program – PTA) as in the space pillar.

The final event proceeded with a discussion panel composed by a representation of Castilla y León´s innovation ecosystem of the aerospace sector: Mr. Ignacio Fernández Baragaño (Communication and Institutional Relations Manager of Grupo Aciturri Aeronáutica), Mrs. Pilar Rodríguez (Head of Capgemini Market Strategy and Innovation Solutions), Mr. Jesús Gonzalo (Aerospace Engineering Area of the University of León), Mr. Carlos Bernabéu (CEO of Arborea Intellbird), Mr. Víctor Montero (Business & Operations Director of B2Space), Mr. Óscar González Espadín  (Head of the Center for Special Environmental Tests of INTA), Mr. Raul de Saja (Manager of the Office for research and technology transfer of CTME) and Mr. Álvaro Villarino Rodríguez (R&D Project Manager at the innovation management departmentof CIDAUT Fundation). This discussion panel addressed issues related to Aerospace PERTE, environmental challenges facing the sector, training needs, R&D challenges, possibilities to generate synergies between the different stakeholders, etc.

Finally, the event was closed with the invitation to the attendees to participate in the next workshops and events organized under the training and support Program for R&D Business Centr@Tec.

Cidaut Foundation and Telefonica subsidiary ElevenPaths sign an agreement to boost efforts around industrial cybersecurity.

Cidaut Foundation and Telefonica subsidiary ElevenPaths sign an agreement to boost efforts around industrial cybersecurity.

In a statement, Cidaut´s ITC-industry 4.0 unit and Telefonica Tech’s cybersecurity unit presented a new project, dubbed ARISTEO, on which they are working together. This collaboration is intended to catch cyber criminals operating in industrial environments aiming to generate intelligence about potential threats for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Spain.

ARISTEO is a real industrial framework which allows the development of connected meta-honeynets; networks consisting of honeypots which run industrial control systems (ICSs) testbeds, thus allowing the collection of much more information on the attacks so attackers “fall into the trap” of thinking they are attacking a real company. These honeypots, classified as high-interaction honeypots, are based on real applications running in real systems. ARISTEO then entertains the attackers to obtain information about them, which is then used to alert customers, analyse security flaws and anticipate potential attacks.

“Examples of open innovation like this are the best way to develop cybersecurity projects, products and services locally, but whose scope is oriented to a global market and are possible because both companies carry innovation in our DNA”, said Jose Cascallana, director at the industrial cybersecurity centre C4IN, Telefonica. Cidaut foundation has provided the infrastructure to develop the pilot. The Industry 4.0 manager, Alvaro Garcia, stated that “the final product will be aimed at the proactive detection of threats and the generation of intelligence, differential elements in the world of cybersecurity, to help SMEs”.

In addition, the agreement between the two groups also establishes a collaboration framework for the development of more research and use cases in industrial cybersecurity, as well as to continue deepening in project ARISTEO, with the integration of the Cidaut demonstrator in the Telefonica demonstrators, of in such a way that both parties can develop, test and evaluate their own and third party tools. This entails holding joint demonstrations carried out in specialised forums and events, as well as allowing the exchange of information from systems exposed to attacks for the application of machine learning and analysis, based on the data obtained.

The companies consider the exchange of knowledge on the real state of industrial cybersecurity, with the SMEs vision of Cidaut, as a center of knowledge (R&D) with a multidisciplinary team that apply concurrent engineering techniques, including industrial processes, and being capable of arriving at the full industrialisation of the best solution, and of Telefonica, as a company that has a proposal for value oriented also to large companies and multinationals. This information will be shared with third parties since the objective is to create a value proposition oriented to the reality of the Spanish industry, satisfying its demand for cybersecurity solutions. Also, this global framework of collaboration between Cidaut and Telefonica is oriented towards future collaboration in both national and European projects.

Both institutions consider the agreement as one more step to achieve the recognition of Castilla y León as a specialized region in the field of cybersecurity.