RMIT University announces Cyber Ready Cloud Innovation Centre

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Australia announced the launch of its Cyber Ready Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC). The CIC will focus on cloud-based cyber security solutions, enabling students to tackle cyber issues in the real world through innovative cloud computing approaches and emerging technology.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President Martin Bean CBE announced the news at AWS re:Invent 2019. The Vice-Chancellor said RMIT has a history of “working closely with governments, industry, and partners around the world to close skills gaps and make a positive contribution to our communities in a time of constant change.”

A CIC is a long-term, public-private collaboration between a public sector organization and Amazon Web Services (AWS). CICs serve as an innovation centre to help solve challenges and address critical problems or opportunities facing communities. The RMIT Cyber Ready Cloud Innovation Centre will define and work to address challenges ranging from cyber policies and training programs to security protection and control systems that support the current cyber security skills gap in Australia and anticipated additional 17,600 professionals required by 2026.

Working within the RMIT Activator, and backed by AWS Cloud technology and Amazon’s innovation methodology, the RMIT Cyber Ready CIC will connect students, researchers, governments, and subject matter experts to solve the identified challenges. Experts across RMIT including the Blockchain Innovation Hub, Health Transformation Lab, and RMIT Online will be tapped for their expertise and the prototypes built will be made publicly available for the global community.

RMIT is a global university of technology, design, and enterprise with more than 91,000 students and 11,000 staff around the world. RMIT has active research and industry partnerships on every continent including campuses in Australia and Vietnam, a research and industry collaboration centre in Barcelona, Spain, as well as programs through partners in destinations including Singapore, China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. “We are delighted the Cloud Innovation Centre will develop in-demand skills to tackle real problems, and most importantly, deliver proactive solutions to protect Australians and the global community,” the RMIT Vice-Chancellor shared. The Minister for Education of the Australian Government, Hon. Dan Tehan MP, shared about the importance of cyber resilience and his excitement for the collaboration between RMIT and Amazon, below.

AWS Country Director for Public Sector in Australia and New Zealand Iain Rouse said the RMIT Cyber Ready CIC, which is scheduled to launch by mid-2020, enhances the long-term collaboration between AWS and RMIT, working together to boost Australia’s cyber security capabilities and addressing the skills shortage. “Our experience in accelerating digital innovation through the global AWS Cloud Innovation Centre program will help the community deliver innovative projects to tackle cyber security challenges in Australia and around the world.”

Learn more about other Cloud Innovation Centres supported by AWS worldwide, including California Polytechnic University Digital Transformation Hub, Arizona State University Smart City CIC, Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) Digital Transformation Lab, CODE University of Applied Sciences Better Future Lab, Sciences Po Public Innovation Lab, Busan City CIC, University of Bahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic CICs, and the Swinburne Data for Social Good CIC. These centres plan to work together in the future on global challenges that matter to communities.

Read more about the RMIT Cyber Ready Cloud Innovation Centre.