AustCyber, the organisation charged with growing a local cybersecurity ecosystem, will be merging with innovation hub Stone and Chalk, with the two non-profits hoping to boost Australia's domestic industrial capability in critical and emerging technologies.
The plan is to provide startups and scale-ups with "enhanced access to domestic and international customers, talent, and expertise together with the right sources of capital".
The organisations said this will accelerate the growth and maturity of the companies involved, while also creating new and highly-skilled jobs for Australians.
AustCyber, headed by Michelle Price, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stone & Chalk, but it will retain its standalone brand, staffing structure, and national network of Cyber Security Innovation Nodes. AustCyber currently boasts 10 Nodes across the Australian Capital Territory[1], New South Wales[2], Queensland[3], South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia
AustCyber will also continue to operate as one of the Australian government's Industry Growth Centres.
As part of the merger, Stone & Chalk will make its commercialisation support services available to Australian cybersecurity founders. This includes investment support, customer and talent acquisition, corporate partnerships, ecosystem support, and curated mentorship from commercial leaders.
AustCyber will likewise provide its expertise to Stone & Chalk's tech founders to ensure they are "secure by design" before they write any code at all.
"Together, they will also provide a powerful voice to better shape the policy and regulatory landscape for critical and emerging tech products and services," a statement form Stone & Chalk said.
See also: Has Australia lost the startup bug? Fishburners doesn't think so[4]
Stone & Chalk CEO Alex Scandurra said COVID-19 has made it clear that Australia can no longer depend so heavily on imported technology, which contain critical dependencies in supply chains.