Ionize's Andrew Muller on Canberra investing in cyber industry to get young skilled workers

Industry representatives say proximity to unis, government, embassies and the private sector have primed the city to become a cyber incubator, a role which could help the territory government with its young people problem.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr last week said the capital lost a lot of people aged 25 to 35, and that retaining that core group would stimulate economic, social and cultural development.

Andrew Muller, the CEO of cyber security consultancy Ionize, said there has been "growth on growth on growth" since his business was incorporated in 2008.

"I don't think any other city can really offer that whole sort of cradle to grave [experience]: from learning right through to execution, opportunity, all those facilities that we have here in Canberra," Mr Muller said.

The most recent data put Canberra behind NSW and Victoria for the number of cyber businesses housed, with the ACT hosting 41, while NSW and Victoria were at 90 and 68 respectively.

The territory government is already eyeing off cyber as a future selling point for the national capital, establishing the Canberra Cyber Hub, which launched at the beginning of the year.

The so-called hub is a way of linking the city's cyber stakeholders and setting out development goals over the next four years and beyond, the first stage of which was to launch an education portal to promote career pathways to students and businesses.

"We're working hard to attract talented workers to choose Canberra as their city of choice," Canberra Cyber Hub Interim Director Michelle Melbourne said.

Still, cyber is jostling to attract the talent it needs, in a city where opportunities across competing private and public sectors combined with skills shortages have created a "churn" effect.

"Currently, we're looking for another 10 [workers] and we're not the only ones," Mr Muller said.

"One of the hidden metrics is the churn that we see ... people just sort of hopping from place to place. That's actually quite disruptive to the organisations subject to it."

But cyber's flexibility around training gives it a competitive edge, Ms Melbourne said.

"There's a very strong re-skilling opportunity here with young professionals who've trained as lawyers or accountants, for example, or as software developers."

"The cyber industry is very attractive industry for them to transition into easily."

A future-focused and global career pathway would be a big draw card for those trained in more traditional areas, she said.

Mr Muller said appealing to a diverse workforce with flexible work arrangements would also be key.

"If they need to have a quieter work environment, then we can absolutely arrange that for them. If they need to work from home to support their families, or they need time off to deal with personal issues, we're completely fine with that."

Adapting to individuals' needs was at the core of building up a cyber workforce, he said.

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The Cyber Hub is not yet clear on how many jobs it can create in Canberra, but it hopes to get in on some share of the 7000 new roles projected across Australia by 2026.

Still, it may not be enough.

Mr Muller said skills shortages were so bad that the next steps looking at artificial intelligence as a "force multiplier".

"We've sort of reached the end of the road with respect - or reaching the road - with respect to people, and we need to think a little bit differently."

"A little bit more about automation and artificial intelligence ... as a force multiplier, not a replacement, but a force multiplier," he said.

"So one person can achieve the same as say three people with the use of automation and artificial intelligence."

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