In order to achieve longevity and sustainability and to be able to use the results of FORESIGHT beyond the project’s lifetime, a tailor-made exploitation strategy that allows for a concrete impact on society is needed. As part of FORESIGHT’s exploitation strategy, the key objectives are to identify FORESIGHT services and individual components as well as to transform them into marketable products. The final goal is to obtain a result that can be further exploited by different stakeholder groups.

In order to achieve maximum impact and follow a sustainable approach, an exploitation strategy has been developed. The exploitation strategy consists of three core phases aimed at identifying FORESIGHT services and individual components and transforming them into marketable products to achieve profitable outcomes. In addition, a strategic analysis has been carried out to better understand the environment in which FORESIGHT is employed, using various tools and techniques.

Exploitation strategy

In order to identify and transform FORESIGHT services into marketable products, first, a structured and methodical approach was defined and implemented. This exploitation strategy should enable maximum impact to be achieved through appropriate business models. With a properly set-up consortium such as FORESIGHT’s, a great impact can be achieved through the outcomes where appropriate stakeholders contribute to a better understanding of the market.

Based on the different outcomes in the areas of science, research, engagement and development, different exploitation pathways have been identified to ensure that the appropriate stakeholder group is reached. The exploitation pathways are: scientific, commercial exploitation and exploitation through networks, associations, initiatives and political groups.

The exploitation strategy consists of several components that play an important role in the use of FORESIGHT. One is the project consortium, which can be divided into three types of partners: industry, academia and research. Another component is technologies and solutions, also referred to as the building blocks of the project. These solutions include products, services and knowledge that are identified and described as key exploitable outcomes. They will be deployed at three different Cyber Range sites in six different training environments.

The FORESIGHT exploitation strategy is divided into three phases of exploitation, as already mentioned. These are carried out continuously during the project duration and are structured according to the predefined meta data:

(A) Pre-marketing activities: technology mapping, market analysis, trends
(B) Exploitation ramp-up: Identifying values, strengths, competencies and potential issues
(C) Market penetration: Business scenarios, joint exploitation, promotion and beyond

Strategic analysis

In addition to the exploitation strategy, a strategic analysis was conducted. The analysis enables a better understanding of the environment in which FORESIGHT will be used and thus ensures the sustainability of the project. The tools (SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis) allowed to identify positive and negative impacts, internal and external influences, as well as the type and level of competition within the cybersecurity industry. This provided insights into the market structure and identified possible future trends.

The SWOT analysis provided a better understanding of how FORESIGHT could position itself in the cybersecurity market, with a particular focus on the competition. The internal and external factors that impact either positively or negatively on the use of the FORESIGHT results were identified. In the analysis, the whole consortium was involved through guiding questions to include the different perspectives of the partners.

The PESTLE analysis identified the macroeconomic challenges that could influence the use of the FORESIGHT results. As part of the analysis, political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors were considered. The PESTLE framework was also used to identify qualitative factors and how these might influence FORESIGHT. For each factor, a comparative descriptor was used to identify the duration, nature, speed and significance. Initially, several factors were given as examples and partners were free to choose from them as well as add additional factors. As a result, the input from the partners collected helped to define different long-term scenarios for commercialization and potential market-related risks.

In order to better understand the level of competition within the cybersecurity industry, a competitive analysis according to Porter’s Five Forces was conducted. Its aim was to secure the long-term profitability of FORESIGHT. Within the framework of the analysis, the five competitive forces that shape the cybersecurity industry were analyzed.

Through this strategic analysis, it was possible to analyses the exact environment in which FORESIGHT is used. In addition, 17 important exploitable results of the project were identified and characterized. This made it possible to create an exploitation strategy that ensures the sustainability of the project!