"We have a responsibility to give knowledge back to universities"

The North Jutland company GomSpace produces small satellites and offers constellation design and services for space travel and satellites. Their participation in an SDU project on cybersecurity has provided greater knowledge on how to work with security and resilience in the company's supply chains.

Søren Lind Therkildsen, Chief Operations Officer at GomSpace, made the decision to participate in the project:

From framework to valuable learning

The first phase of the project had developed a framework tool for cybersecurity and risk management in the supply chain, which GomSpace helped test in phase 2 of the project.

For GomSpace, security plays a major role at every stage, and all components and subcontractors must comply with set standards and legislation:

- A company like ours relies heavily on subcontractors meeting the necessary safety standards, but standards are not always enough; we need to look ahead and ensure robustness and resilience.

That's why Søren Lind Therkildsen hoped the project would raise awareness within the organisation to better work with what-if scenarios, i.e. a plan B, for example if a subcontractor cannot deliver a necessary component or if a schedule slips.

Although GomSpace couldn't use the framework tool directly, the company got a lot of useful reflections and the project sparked important conversations - both about the company's own terms, but also about the requirements they place on subcontractors.

Alignment of expectations

If you consider collaborating with a university, Søren Lind Therkildsen recommends that you align expectations in advance:

He recommends that setting expectations is about being clear about the level of knowledge required before committing to the project - and ensuring that support is available if needed, so you don't get bogged down. But he also recommends making sure you can invest the necessary time to get the most out of the collaboration.

On the other hand, collaborating with a university gives you access to exactly the knowledge your organisation needs:

- Collaboration with SDU and other universities allows us to influence that research is conducted on the topics the industry needs. These collaborations are essential for us to be able to research the things that are relevant to society.