Welcome to the future new high place of cybersecurity in Nouvelle-Aquitaine! The paint is still fresh and the workers continue to work on this former industrial site of the Thalès group. But, by next year, more than a dozen companies in this digital sector will take up residence in Pessac, not far from the universities, south-west of Bordeaux.
Starting with Tehtris, the publisher of an automatic cyberattack neutralization solution, which will take over one of the four buildings in the complex. A location that will allow it to accommodate not only its 260 current employees, but also the 300 it plans to hire in the coming years, following its recent fundraising of 44 million euros.
Coming together to be more audible
In the wake of Pessac society, an entire ecosystem has decided to come together in one place, with the new Regional Cybersecurity and Digital Trust Campus, officially launched on October 10, as its cornerstone. This association, with a budget of 1.5 million euros per year, financed by its own members, New Aquitaine and the State via the recovery plan, aims to strengthen the synergies between private and public players. of the sector. “Having such a standard bearer will strengthen the sector, and therefore protect the rest of the economy against a growing threat”, assures Yann Pennec, director of the digital delegation within the regional council. Due to the growing digitization of the economy, the number of cyberattacks has indeed been multiplied by 4 in one year, in particular through malicious software, the famous “ransomware”.
“The major issue is the lack of maturity of companies on these subjects,” said Pauline Quinebeche, head of institutional relations at Tehtris. “Bringing us together will allow us to be more audible,” hopes Léo Dupouy, co-founder of Knock Knock, a young start-up. François-Xavier Dupla, director of sales and marketing for the Serma group (220 employees, 30 million turnover), specializing in the security of information systems, sees another interest in it: recruitment! Making cybersecurity more visible will potentially help his company unearth a dozen profiles next year, despite an extremely tight market.
“An incredible involvement”
“This co-location is a necessary condition, but not sufficient to collaborate more closely”, however warns Hugues Thiebeauld, co-founder of the digital security company eShard (35 employees), future tenant, too, of a floor of the new premises. Hence an original rule on campus: each member must dedicate 1% of their teams’ working time free of charge to carrying out joint projects. The first to date? The inventory of all the offers of the region in terms of cybersecurity.
“It’s a way of involving the sector and showing what the campus should be used for”, testifies Guy Flament, its affable director. A real success: while he expected to have two full-time equivalents this year, the fifty members will provide him with five times more! “This incredible involvement forces us to go faster,” he explains. And to admit a dream by finishing the visit to the site: to eventually install the association in the disused control tower which was once used to test the radars of the Mirage 2000, in order to make it a totem place for the ecosystem. For now, a panoramic restaurant is planned.