The current geopolitical situation and reliance on digital systems presents challenges for defence and civil sectors. A new field of Digital Resilience is starting to emerge. Business Finland has launched a new funding program that aims to create solutions to build Digital Resilience both in Finland and NATO countries. This article takes a look at the themes that were raised during the launch event on 21st of May 2024 of this funding programme. Many of the themes within this new field are something that Laurea has expertise in, and the new funding programme may offer great opportunities for future Laurea projects.

Defining Digital Resilience

Business Finland is a public organization that seeks to attract tourism, trade and foreign investment and funds innovation in Finland. They see Digital Resilience as being made of three subsectors: Cybersecurity, Digital Defence and Critical Communications, with multiple specific technologies linking these sectors together.

• Cybersecurity consists of various forms of established cybersecurity technologies, but also adaptations required for the new age of geopolitical turmoil, AI and IoT.
• Digital Defence refers to various digital solutions in use by defence operators. These can include solutions related to communication, reconnaissance, encrypted communications, information sharing and dual-use civil/defence digital infrastructure.
• Critical Communications are the type of communications infrastructure that are needed in sectors critical to the functioning of society.

To promote the creation of marketable solutions in this new field for use in both Finland and NATO, Business Finland is launching a funding programme that seeks provide 100 million euros between 2024-2028.

The launch event of this programme featured speakers representing both the business world and the sphere of politics. The speakers offered context for the idea of Digital Resilience and presented some current and upcoming solutions in the field , such as end-to-end encryption and space technologies, as well the challenges that require intense focus on Digital Resilience.

Resilience as a security trend, industrial capacity as a critical challenge

The idea of Digital Resilience is a continuation of the ever-growing importance of societal resilience. Professor of military science and member of parliament Jarno Limnéll presented resilience as a key trend in current discussions about security.
Limnéll sees resilience as the ability to manage exceptional situations. We are living in a “time of fog”, a gray zone between peace and war. This makes contingency planning very important. Western countries need to adjust to a new reality where the dichotomy between war and peace doesn’t really exist anymore as Russia doesn’t view there being such a division anymore.

Security is also a feeling. Various cultural factors can contribute to it or take away from it. Individuals need to cultivate the ability to manage misinformation, disinformation, and psychological warfare. The social and informational aspects of the cyber world will only become more important in the future.

Timo Pesonen, Director General for Space and Defence Industry of the EU Commission presented space technologies and European industrial capacity. While Pesonen had some good news regarding European and Finnish space technology, he mostly offered dire news about the industrial capacity of Europe. To put it bluntly, it is simply not at sufficient level to meet current or future defence needs, especially if we want to keep on supporting Ukraine.

While the EU has done much to improve the situation via the ASAP fund and the European Defence Fund, much more will need to be done. Europe is too reliant on American hardware, too happy to be number two and needs to get its act together.

Cybersecurity – the future is End to End

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly explicit cybersecurity was the area of least focus in the launch event. Rather than the theme being deemed less relevant, it’s because as more or less all of human society has become intertwined with information networks, cybersecurity has become ubiquitous.

The most cybersecurity focused presentation came from Jari Partanen of Bittium. Bittium has been involved in the development of secure connectivity for defence, healthcare and engineering sectors for 35 years. In Partanen’s view, the biggest challenges of future cybersecurity come from the ever-growing amount of connected devices and digitalisation of sensitive data such as that related to healthcare.

IoT solutions can be both contribute and take away from Digital Resilience. Secure IoT solutions require upscaled security solutions such as simulations that can replicate massive cyberattacks. The digital battlefield requires robust, resilient, encrypted communications. End to End (E2E) encryption is an important solution to present and future cybersecurity risks.

Digital Defence – dual-use technologies, SAR satellites and beyond

Digital Defence consists of various digital technologies in service of defence applications. These can include communications and reconnaissance systems, as well as data analysis and other digital solutions. Their nature puts special demands on these applications, as they must be secure against intrusions and capable of performing in a crisis.

Matti Saarikko, CTO of Patria, presented the company’s digital defence projects. These include a digital interoperability platform that is being developed with European partners, that would allow vehicles in a battlefield to exchange data between each other. Another project collaborative project is the eALLIANCE that aims to develop dual-use digital infrastructure. This allows civilian networks and data sources to be harnessed during crisis times for defence needs. The importance of layered defences was another theme in Patria’s presentation.

Seppo Aaltonen, VP of ICEYE, presented his company’s groundbreaking work in satellite technology. ICEYE has developed satellites that use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, which enables them to take extremely high-resolution images (50cm) of exceptionally broad areas (840km²) day or night, and through cloud cover. The satellites have global coverage and a less than 6 hour revisit time. From 2018 onwards the company has launched 30+ satellites.

Such technology has powerful applications in both defence and natural disaster prevention. A crowdfunded ICEYE SAR-satellite has been successfully used in the current war by Ukraine. While space technologies can be a powerful asset, they make space another layer of the Digital Resilience spectrum. NATO countries need to develop cooperation and capabilities to better respond to potential threats to space assets.

Critical Communications, Critical Infrastructure – the blessings and burdens of technological transformations

Critical Communications include communications systems in defence, healthcare, critical infrastructure, transport, resources, energy and fuel sectors. The common thread between these sectors is that if they are disrupted, it results in either loss of life or significant material losses.

Tero Pesonen, chairman of the Critical Communications Broadband Group, TCCA, presented the key features and development of Critical Communications technology. Key requirements for successful Critical Communications technology are coverage, availability, resilience, performance, and scalability. These technologies have seen drastic changes within the last two decades, and these changes have come with a host of challenges.

Some European space technology projects have an aspect of securing Critical Communications. The Copernicus system, under ongoing development, is designed to back up and complement GPS. The upcoming Iris² satellite system is not only a competitor to Starlink, but also a backup to undersea internet cables.

Anssi Paalanen, Leading Preparedness Specialist from National Emergency Supply Agency presented the Critical Infrastructure perspective. He focused on the challenges posed by the energy transitions. While the move towards renewable energy sources has been a blessing for the environment, it has been a burden for preparedness. Currently renewable energy is practically impossible to stockpile.

Conclusion

The growing importance of Digital Resilience highlights the challenges we face due to the current geopolitical situation and the abuse of digital technologies by hostile actors. Beyond the current crisis, the field offers solutions that would overall place our society into a more resilient, sustainable position.

Defence and security markets are growing for the foreseeable future. At the same time, Finnish expertise in areas related to digital resilience is in demand. Many of the fields related to the topic such as cybersecurity, hybrid threats, resilience, and collaboration between different sectors of society are such that Laurea has expertise in them.

Laurea’s ResLab, Resilience Laboratory, is entirely dedicated to the themes of resilience. Beyond the work of the ResLab, Laurea has been involved in many projects that have involved themes related to digital resilience. These include cybersecurity projects such as CYCLOPES, MANOLO and CyberSecPro. IRWIN project has sought to improve resilience of information in civil society. IMMUNE 2 INFODEMIC operates in the field of cognitive security which is included in Digital Resilience.

Laurea also has considerable business ecosystem experience. The need for such ecosystems was explicitly called out in the Digital Resilience launch event. Laurea can support the birth of such ecosystems.

The Business Finland Digital Resilience funding programme is therefore of great interest to Laurea. Beyond that, the Patria eALLIANCE program could also be a great opportunity.

Sources

• Aaltonen, S. A growth company view to digital resilience. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Limnéll, J. Resilience as a key trend in security. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Partanen, J. Leading company: Bittium. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Paalanen, A. Energy systems and resilience. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Pesonen, Tero. Direction of Critical Communication. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Pesonen, Timo. Defence Industry and Space in EU. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.
• Saarikko, M. Leading company: Patria. Business Finland Digital Resilience Launch Event.