Cisco has today announced the launch of its Co-Innovation Center and Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Singapore.

The two centers are designed to catalyze digital innovation and development in line with the focus areas of Singapore’s Digital Economy Framework for Action.

The Cisco Co-Innovation Center, the company’s first in Southeast Asia, and 14th globally, will bring together customers, industry partners, start-ups, application developers, accelerators, government organizations and universities to work on problems unique to the region, with a particular focus on Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Cisco Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCX) will expand Cisco’s threat intelligence research and security incident response capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. The CCX comprises a new Talos threat intelligence headquarters and Cisco Security Operations Center (SOC) that will partner with government, industry, and universities to improve national cybersecurity posture and grow regional talent.

The two centers, located at Cisco’s new office in Mapletree Business City, were inaugurated by Chng Kai Fong, Managing Director of Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

“Cisco’s Co-Innovation Center and Cybersecurity Center of Excellence will not only build new digital capabilities in Singapore for the Asia Pacific region, but also provide opportunities for Singaporeans to work with the best minds in Cisco and its partners to create new and innovative solutions that enable and secure digital transformation in different industries. We welcome global technology leaders like Cisco to deepen their presence in our ecosystem and we look forward to a fruitful partnership with Cisco,”

Mr Chng said.

Speaking on Cisco’s commitment to drive innovation and digitalisation in Singapore and across Southeast Asia, Irving Tan, Senior Vice President and Chief of Operations at Cisco said,

Irving Tan

“At Cisco, we build the bridge between hope and possibility. This is only possible when innovative technology and imaginative people come together around a common purpose. Innovation no longer happens behind the closed doors of R&D labs, but in open ecosystems. By fostering local and global partnerships, Cisco is leading innovation in cutting edge technology solutions that will create a better future for the region”.

Cisco is a strong partner to governments and businesses driving innovation in Cybersecurity and preparing local talent for IT jobs of the future. Recent partnerships include a global alliance with INTERPOL, a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore and playing an active role in ICE71 ‘Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at Block71’, the region’s first Cybersecurity startup hub in partnership with Singtel Innov8 and NUS Enterprise.

According to a recent Cisco study titled ‘Ready, Steady, Unsure – Technology Perspective into Asia Pacific’s Readiness for Digital Transformation’, Cybersecurity and IoT are top of mind for business leaders. Sixty-five percent of leaders in Asia-Pacific consider Cybersecurity paramount to succeed in digital transformation, particularly in financial services (80 percent). Eighty-five percent of companies regionally have adopted the technology and 42 percent indicated they had made security upgrades due to a breach. IoT is equally relevant. Among those surveyed, 33 percent of business leaders consider IoT a priority and almost all of those (32 percent) have adopted it.

The Co-Innovation Center will provide physical and virtual laboratories for proof of concept development, experimentation and testing. The Center’s Customer Innovation rooms which offer a space to co-create and prototype new solutions will be located within Cisco’s new office 80,000 square foot office space at Mapletree Business City II. With an open plan designed for the collaborative future of work, the Cisco Singapore office is designed to facilitate creative “accidental collisions” to ensure that it delivers on its innovation promise.

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