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New Global Cybersecurity Initiative Launches in Missouri

  • May 24, 2021

The Global Center for Cybersecurity @ Cortex (GCC), a new cybersecurity initiative backed by the Cortex Innovation Community and aimed at fostering collaboration globally within the cyber industry, has launched in St. Louis, Missouri.

The nonprofit GCC is structured to place a focus on helping the cybersecurity industry solve its most pressing challenges through initiatives focused on collaboration, workforce development and innovation. The GCC said it plans to place a focus on developing technology talent from underrepresented communities.

“The currency for high-tech jobs is talent. We need to broaden our efforts to develop a well-prepared workforce to tackle the fast-changing world of cybersecurity,” said Sam Fiorello, President and CEO of the Cortex Innovation Community. “With the launch of the Global Center for Cybersecurity @ Cortex, we will be able to transform our approach to pairing a well-skilled, diverse workforce with the critical challenges facing the cybersecurity world.”

Cortex has served as the founding benefactor of the GCC. The center is funded through membership dues, donations, grants and sponsorships. Its membership includes major St. Louis firms such as Cortex, Emerson Electric and Washington University. It also includes leading technology firms such as Seattle-based Amazon and Round Rock, as well as Texas-based Dell Technologies.

Fiorello said the newly launched GCC is an example of the innovation district’s ability to partner with businesses and universities to help provide resources such as job training and education. He said he also believes the new center will also position St. Louis as a leader in the cybersecurity industry.

“That brand glow will be incredibly powerful,” Fiorello said. “This is developing a St. Louis brand as being on the edge for technology, on the edge for having an inclusion lens in everything we do, an ability to convene the best and the brightest and the ability to launch something because we see a problem and we’re not going to wait. That’s the brand we want, and this kind of thing will develop that brand.”

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