Central Innovation Programme for SMEs supports iesy project

In collaboration with TH Köln, iesy is developing a hardware and software solution to secure communications as part of a ZIM project (Central Innovation Programme for SMEs). The development focuses on security, usability and privacy.

Ever since Edward Snowden’s revelations, there has been a noticeable increase in awareness of secure communication among large sections of the population. Private data should remain private, especially when communicating with other internet users. This is precisely where a joint project between iesy and TH Köln, which was launched at the end of 2017, comes in. The collaboration was made possible by the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The programme aims to provide sustainable support for the innovative strength and competitiveness of companies in Germany and to promote market-oriented technological research and development projects in the innovative SME sector in close cooperation with research institutions.

Focus on security and usability

To develop a secure and easy-to-use communication solution based on software and hardware, iesy was able to enlist the help of TH Köln and the team led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Luigi Lo Iacono, a renowned research institution for data and application security. Mr Lo Iacono’s in-depth expertise in the field of usable security played a particularly important role for iesy in selecting its research partner, as Managing Director Martin Steger emphasises: ‘From the very beginning, TH Köln understood our goal of developing a user-friendly IT security solution and provided important impetus in fleshing out the idea and submitting the funding application.’

By the end of 2019, both cooperation partners plan to develop their software and hardware solution to market maturity, supported by the German government’s ZIM funding programme. “We want to enable users to communicate securely and easily online. Current security mechanisms are either insufficient or complicated to use. Only by combining software and hardware can we create a solution that is as effective and easy to use as users expect today,” says Prof. Dr. Lo Iacono, explaining the goal. He does not go into further detail, as this is an innovation that can be used worldwide. And as experts in security, iesy and TH Köln know how to keep a secret.