The Defence Department wants Australia’s tech heads to help it develop cyber solutions for national security issues.

Cyber matters are a priority in the Next Generation Technologies Fund, aimed at finding new cyber capabilities from Australian R&D.

Defence says it recognises the need to respond to this technology opportunity, and that technological advances in the cyber domain are likely to lead to the introduction of new capabilities in the local region.

Defence is seeking to “leverage the vibrant cyber science, technology and innovation capability across Australia to develop technology solutions of high relevance to the country's national security”, the department said in a statement.

Through partnerships with Data61, academia and industry, Defence aims to understand the potential of cyber technologies, create prototype systems, and demonstrate the practical application of systems to Defence problems.

One of the goals of cyber technologies research is to inform the department of the potential benefits and practical limitations of cyber technologies through studies and demonstrations within a three to five-year timeframe.

It has opened the door to proposals from industry and universities for “priority projects” running an initial 12 month period, with up to $650,000 in funding on offer.

Some of the areas identified for research include; trustworthy machine learning, resilient cyber systems, depicting human vulnerabilities towards cyber threats via trust analytics, formal mathematical modelling environment and many more.

More information is accessible here.