{"id":3069,"date":"2026-10-28T14:34:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renic.es\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:34:44","slug":"renic-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary-at-20enise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renic.es\/en\/renic-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary-at-20enise\/","title":{"rendered":"RENIC celebrates its 10th anniversary at 20ENISE with a look at the past and future of cybersecurity in Europe and Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“Ten years from now, ideally RENIC would no longer even be necessary, because we would have achieved the goals we set and that industry and that home-grown technology would truly exist. Even so, we hope to be with you for another ten and another twenty years” \u2013 Ana Ayerbe, president of RENIC<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On 22 October, at 20ENISE<\/a>, the International Information Security Meeting organised by INCIBE in Le\u00f3n, RENIC celebrated its tenth anniversary with the panel “RENIC’s 10th Anniversary \u2013 A retrospective and prospective look at cybersecurity in Europe and Spain”, held in the main auditorium of an ENISE that was itself celebrating its twentieth edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderated by Ana D\u00edaz Mart\u00ednez, from INCIBE’s Cabinet and National Coordination Centre (NCC-ES), the panel brought together Ana Ayerbe, president of RENIC and Director of Digital Strategy at Tecnalia; Juan Gonz\u00e1lez, secretary of RENIC and Director of Security and Privacy at Gradiant; Xabier Mitxelena, president of CYBERLUR; Eduvigis Ortiz, president of Women4Cyber Spain; and Nina Olesen, Chief Growth Officer of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ana Ayerbe looked back at the origins of the network, which grew out of a feasibility, opportunity and design study for a cybersecurity network of excellence promoted by INCIBE. The aim was to make Spain a hub of cybersecurity talent covering the whole value chain, from R&D to business, and to overcome the fragmentation of research groups that were numerous but small. Among the milestones of these ten years, she highlighted the National Cybersecurity Research Conference (JNIC), the awards for the best doctoral thesis and the best master’s thesis, collaboration with industry through public procurement of innovation, and the close relationship with CYBERLUR, with which RENIC signed its first collaboration agreement, renewed last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panellists agreed that the ecosystem has moved from fragmentation to collaboration, but that there is still a way to go. Xabier Mitxelena noted that the arrival of RENIC brought order to how organisations engage with each other, and that the current challenge is to turn excellence into products, services and markets, with demand becoming directly involved. Juan Gonz\u00e1lez summed it up: “We know how to collaborate to do research; we have got there. Now let’s collaborate to create our own technology.” He pointed out that, according to INCIBE data, the sector has around 165,000 professionals and exceeded 6 billion euros in turnover in 2024, a size not yet reflected in home-grown technologies and capabilities, and called for making it easier to create and grow specialised companies and for demand that gives Spanish cybersecurity a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eduvigis Ortiz urged backing Spanish and European technology \u2013 “let’s stop talking about it and do it” \u2013 and recalled that Women4Cyber Spain, the first national chapter of the European network, was launched at INCIBE during ENISE 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. From the European perspective, Nina Olesen, whose organisation is also turning ten, explained that in 2016 cybersecurity was seen as a technical problem, whereas today it is a strategic issue linked to competitiveness, national security and resilience. She identified three challenges: turning Europe’s excellent research into globally leading companies, moving from reactive cybersecurity to proactive resilience with security and privacy by design, and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the challenges facing the sector, Ana Ayerbe pointed to the impact of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and to Europe’s response: “Our main challenge is to believe that we truly have the capabilities to do all this, and that collaboration is where success lies.” She also argued for no longer seeing R&D and technology transfer as a sequential chain, and for embracing co-creation instead. In her conclusions, the moderator highlighted proactive resilience, investment in industry and talent, and cooperation to avoid returning to the fragmentation of a decade ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the same day, Ana Ayerbe also gave the talk “Cybersecurity in the age of AI” in the 20ENISE Innovation Zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full panel can be watched in INCIBE’s live stream<\/a> (in Spanish and English).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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