CSA Establishes CyberSG R&D Programme Office with Four Year Funding of S$62 Million to Drive Research and Development to Build Up Cybersecurity Capabilities in Singapore

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has established a CyberSG R&D Programme Office at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).  This was announced by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity Innovation Day held on 29 September 2023. 

2      The CyberSG R&D Programme Office, the first of its kind in the ASEAN region, seeks to position Singapore as one of the global forerunners of cybersecurity R&D and adoption.  It is part of the National Cybersecurity R&D programme (NCRP)¹ which was established in 2013 to build and extend Singapore’s cybersecurity capabilities as part of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan. The Programme Office will receive funding of S$62 million under the RIE2025 NCRP Funding Initiative. It started its operations in August 2023.

3      The CyberSG R&D Programme Office serves as a national platform to spearhead the translation of research prototypes into usable products and services for both the national security agencies and industry. Its objectives are to: 

1. Facilitate commercialisation and deployment of research outcomes. This can include solutions to enhance the cybersecurity of Operational Technology systems and Cloud Infrastructure.
2. Promote the NCRP through publicising the research outcomes and identify opportunities for industry collaborations.
3. Create a one-stop open innovation lab for the development and cross-fertilisation of ideas, to facilitate the translation of cybersecurity research with commercialisation potential and bring them to market.

4      To meet the objectives, the CyberSG R&D Programme Office will carry out the following functions:

1. Grant Management: Administer grant calls to the research community, government agencies and industry to enable them to develop capabilities to address fundamental and emerging cyber security problems.
2. Management of Research Talent: Develop, track and manage research talent pool and pipeline in collaboration with research institutions (RIs), Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and industry to support the demand for cybersecurity research talents.
3. Applied Research Management: Facilitate the process of managing research ideas and concepts by setting up an open innovation lab, where RIs, IHLs, industry and public members can develop their ideas using open data and software tools and Software Development Kits.

5      The CyberSG R&D Programme Office will also coordinate the research efforts of the National Integrated Centre for Evaluation (NiCE), the National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory, iTrust Lab and the National Satellites of Excellence to build an open innovation platform for the development of cybersecurity technologies. Serving as the Executive Director of CyberSG R&D Programme Office is Professor Liu Yang from the School of Computer Science and Engineering at NTU.  

¹ Under the NCRP, various National Satellites of Excellence (NSoEs) were set up to build research capabilities and run thematic research grant calls in research areas such as Trustworthy Software Systems, Mobile Systems Security & Cloud Security as well as Design Science and Technologies for Secure Critical Infrastructure.

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About the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore

Established in 2015, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) seeks to keep Singapore’s cyberspace safe and secure to underpin our Nation Security, power a Digital Economy and protect our Digital Way of Life. It maintains an oversight of national cybersecurity functions and works with sector leads to protect Singapore’s Critical Information Infrastructure. CSA also engages with various stakeholders to heighten cyber security awareness, build a vibrant cybersecurity ecosystem supported by a robust workforce, pursue international partnerships and drive regional cybersecurity capacity building programmes. 

CSA is part of the Prime Minister’s Office and is managed by the Ministry of Communications and Information. For more news and information, please visit www.csa.gov.sg.