Successful applicants will receive a €38,000 tax-free scholarship and a fully funded postgraduate diploma.
Munster Technological University (MTU) is inviting experienced professionals to take up the final places on its Cyber Innovate programme.
The programme offers successful applicants a scholarship, fully funded postgraduate diploma and the skills to launch and lead cybersecurity start-ups.
Now in its second year, the programme also seeks to reduce the gender imbalance in the cybersecurity sector. In its first year, the Cyber Innovate programme had five women out of a total of 12 successful applicants.
Having launched in September 2024, the first programme is still ongoing, with its current cohort of students working on prototypes, business models and business plans with the aim of raising funding for their start-ups this summer.
Along with a €38,000 tax-free scholarship, successful applicants will take part in a fully paid for 10-month postgraduate diploma. Students will be based full-time on site in the Rubicon Centre business incubator at MTU.
Ronan Coleman, director of Cyber Innovate, said that while most start-up programmes focus on commercialising pre-existing ideas, Cyber Innovate goes down a different route.
“From day one, participants dive into real-world challenges, engaging directly with industry leaders in financial services, technology, telecoms, agriculture and smart maritime,” he said. “They work alongside cybersecurity and IT professionals to uncover pressing problems they face and design practical, high-impact solutions.”
Georgia Tech VentureLab, which specialises in the lean start-up I-Corps methodology for validating the commercial opportunity for a potential product or service, has partnered with the programme. To date, I-Corps has led to 1,357 start-ups that have since raised a total of more than $3bn in funding.
Cork is already a strong cybersecurity hub and home to successful cybersecurity start-ups such as Vaultree and Getvisibility. It’s also the base of Smarttech247, which just expanded its team and created 50 new jobs last year.
The closing date for Cyber Innovate applications is 31 March 2025 and Coleman said professionals from a variety of backgrounds are encouraged to apply, “even if they haven’t worked in cybersecurity before now”.
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