Proximus today officially announced the arrival of an expertise center dedicated to AI and cybersecurity in Belgium. The center will be named Proximus Ada and will officially open its doors on April 1.
The war in Ukraine has made it painfully clear once again how important a country’s cyber security is. In that regard, Russia is a strong opponent with a great deal of trained hacking talent at home who have seized plenty of moments in recent years to further refine their actions.
It clearly shows the importance for organizations and governments to arm themselves against cyber threats. Within Belgium, Proximus is going to take a leading role in increasing our country’s cyber security. To this end, the company will open the expertise center Proximus Ada on April 1.
Collaborations as a basis
Guillaume Boutin, Managing Director of Proximus, opened the announcement event by explaining the role of Proximus Ada: “Proximus Ada is a center providing AI and cybersecurity solutions to different parts of Belgium.”
The expertise center must not only serve the interests of Proximus, but also help society as a whole move forward in the area of cybersecurity. To this end, the expertise center will collaborate with universities, expertise centers, companies and coding schools. “It is the universities that carry the base, but it is an open system to increase cybersecurity in the country,” Boutin says.
Sharing knowledge
Proximus itself says it already has some expertise within the fields of AI and cybersecurity. “Currently, Proximus already employs 50 people who work daily on the topics of AI and cybersecurity. That team has already developed more than 80 AI applications that improve customer experiences and business processes,” Stephanie Cox said. She will assume the role of Managing Director of Proximus Ada.
Over the next three years, the expert group should expand to 150 employees. Finally, Cox details how these experts will use the acquired knowledge: “Currently, the team of experts only works for Proximus cybersecurity. That will be expanded to the broad Proximus group, which also includes TeleSign and Bics.” These organizations are not only active within Belgium, which should also give the expertise center prestige in the Benelux and later internationally.
Motivating women
Proximus did not choose the name of the expertise center at random. “Ada is a reference to Ada Lovelace who is considered the first computer programmer. She wrote the first algorithm intended for the computer. Proximus chose this name because it makes it clear that Proximus wants Ada to support women in the technology industry,” Cox says.