DHS agrees new cybersecurity R&D partnership with Israel

Nihal Krishan
Jul 1, 2022 | FEDSCOOP

The Department of Homeland Security announced a new joint initiative with Israel on Thursday, as part of which grants will be distributed to private sector companies for research and development.

Homeland Security will partner with the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) to create the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Cyber program that will focus on improving the cyber resilience of critical infrastructure.

BIRD Cyber will provide grants of $1.5 million per project to companies and research institutions in both nations.

“The new BIRD program advances the U.S.-Israeli partnership through cyber innovation and collaboration to build more secure and resilient infrastructure,” said Kathryn Coulter Mitchell, senior official within DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate. 

“We welcome the opportunity to cooperate with INCD and build on our work with the BIRD Foundation to develop innovative technologies that reduce risk to our cyber and physical infrastructure and that lead to enhanced safety for both our nations,” Mitchell said in a press release.

The $1.5 million BIRD Cyber Call for Proposals are looking to fund projects that include participants from both countries. Recipients of the funding will include companies, universities and research institutions.

The scheme is focused on piloting new technology that may help to improve security architecture, real-time risk assessment and data analytics.

The deadline for submitting proposals to this new Call for Proposals is November 15, 2022 with the winning projects being selected in March 2023.

The U.S.-Israel partnership is aimed at promoting the development of technologies of mutual benefit for both countries, building upon the BIRD Homeland Security program established in 2016 by DHS and the Israel Ministry of Public Security.

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