Cyber-security Excellence Hub in Estonia and South Moravia

Project Information

CHESS

Grant agreement ID: 101087529

DOI

10.3030/101087529

EC signature date 10 November 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 4 999 962,50

EU contribution

€ 4 999 962,50

Coordinated by

Masarykova univerzita
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CHESS (Cyber-security Excellence Hub in Estonia and South Moravia)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Estonia and South Moravia are teaming up to support the EU's safe transition to a digital society.
The Cyber-security Excellence Hub in Estonia and South Moravia (CHESS) integrates leading cybersecurity institutions and aims to capitalize on the strengths of both regions to address important Europe-wide challenges. South Moravia is a major ICT industry & education powerhouse of the Czech Republic, with a focused and coherent smart specialization strategy targeting cybersecurity. Estonia is among the most advanced digital societies globally, with exceptional e-government infrastructure.

CHESS aims to bridge the research-innovation gaps by connecting fundamental researchers with economic and societal exploitation. The project will develop a joint cross-border cybersecurity research and innovation strategy focusing on six challenge areas: Internet of Secure Things, Security certification, Verification of trustworthy software, Security preservation in blockchain, Post-quantum cryptography, and Human-centric aspects of cyber-security. The strategy development is aided by the implementation of pilot R&I projects that reinforce cross-regional collaboration, engage regional innovation ecosystems and build evidence for future projects. On top of that, CHESS will create a unique network of interactions beyond its consortium, connecting the strengths of South Moravia (certification, human-centric research) and Estonia (blockchain, post-quantum cryptography, e-government) to facilitate a secure transition to full-scale digital societies.

The overall objectives of the CHESS projects are:

1. A cross-border joint Cybersecurity R&I strategy aligned with Czech and Estonian smart specialisation strategies in ICT.
2. Action and investment plans for implementation of the strategy in each of its six focus areas of cybersecurity.
3. Initiation of at least 12 small-scale R&I projects consolidating academia business linkages to demonstrate validity of ideas and provide evidence to obtain additional investments.
4. A training strategy for both regions to increase cross-border and sectoral cooperation and increase needed skills around the six priority areas.
5. Raising citizen engagement, technology transfer, staff exchange and mutual learning.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The consortium has initiated 24 small-scale R&I projects in six Challenge Areas (CAs): Internet of Secure Things; Security Certification; Verification of Trustworthy Software; Security Preservation in Blockchain; Post-Quantum Cryptography; and Human-centric Aspects of Cybersecurity. In each CA, institutions from both regions and multiple sectors are involved, which helps deepen the existing collaboration between academia and industry and create new links between institutions and between regions. The CAs are defined in a way that (i) a particular strength of one region either allows knowledge transfer that will significantly improve the quality of R&I partner region or where (ii) both regions deliver excellent R&I, which justifies the assumption that their connection may result in synergies for developing the cybersecurity strategy.

The consortium conducted a thorough analysis of the current state of the existing cybersecurity ecosystem in South Moravia and Estonia. The partners working in six CHESS Challenge Areas mapped the capacities, expertise, shared interests and needs for each research area in both regions. This analysis provided the foundation for a joint strategy designed to promote excellence and increase the impact of cybersecurity R&I in both regions.

We organised a range of targeted events, including training sessions, awareness-raising activities, and brokerage events, with the goal of engaging diverse stakeholder groups and opening the consortium to wider audiences.
We have been working on several cybersecurity solutions improvements as well as on deployment between regions and sectors.
Sustainability was an important issue; our teams prepared three successful project proposals, which will help us continue and expand our work.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The consortium has been working on several cybersecurity solutions improvements, such as migrating the e-voting system to post-quantum cryptography or PQC in Virtual Private Networks (VPN). The toolset for analyses of product security certification documents sec-certs has been tested by several commercial partners and was presented to public authorities and policymakers in the Czech Republic, Estonia and internationally. Our teams have been working on novel methods for improving trust in software that can have important economic benefits by enabling companies to avoid software malfunctions. We also have a small-scale project focused on improving the usability of cybersecurity solutions for ICT professionals. Making security products and processes usable to those who need them can be an important catalyst for more efficient adoption of security and privacy technologies. An essential aspect of the CHESS project is deploying technologies between sectors and regions. This includes systems and methodology for cybersecurity training or deployment of program analysis to practical software.

CHESS logo

CHESS Industrial Day at Masaryk Universisty in December 2023

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