CyberBay Working Groups: Bridging Thought Leadership and Real-World Action

The CyberBay Working Groups are a core feature of the CyberBay initiative, serving as our continuous engine for progress. We move beyond theory by creating a direct link between high-level thought leadership and tangible, real-world action.

In all cases, our Working Groups are spawned directly from the data-driven insights derived from our annual CyberBay Surveys.

By identifying the most critical infrastructure gaps and challenges in our community, we commission targeted groups to develop practical, industry-aligned solutions.

2025 Working Groups Recap & Status

In October 2025, we commissioned three distinct working groups to address critical needs in the Tampa Bay cybersecurity ecosystem. Here is a look at what they have accomplished and where they are heading:

Group 1: Undergraduate Academic Curriculum

MISSION: Completed

THE CHALLENGE: Evolving undergraduate cybersecurity education to better align with real-world employer needs.

THE OUTCOME: This group devised a unique cloud-based application that guides aspiring cybersecurity professionals—whether students or career pivoters—to relevant educational paths. By aligning job descriptions with the NIST/NICE framework, the tool helps students identify their skill gaps and eventually produces a course schedule utilizing offerings from the University of South Florida and St. Leo University.

WHAT’S NEXT: Showing enormous market potential for building a talent pipeline, the application has piqued the interest of Bellini Capital and portfolio companies SkillBit and ConnectSecure, who will take the development of the application forward as a commercial product. Consequently, this working group has successfully completed its mission

Group 2: Solutions Innovation (Continuing in 2026)

MISSION: Nurturing Tampa entrepreneurs to create accessible, affordable solutions that deliver on the promise of the “democratization of cybersecurity”.

THE OUTCOME: This group’s efforts manifest as our recurring annual “Innovation Challenge.” This pitch contest awards prize money to the teams presenting the best solutions for making robust cybersecurity universally available. The emerging company, actualization.ai, behind their solution called SquarePact, won the pitch competition, from a pool of 3 teams that had been winnowed down from 7 candidates, at CyberBay Summit 2026 and will receive the $70K in prize money.

WHAT’S NEXT: The program for 2027 will continue to select candidates from a pool of proposals, providing them with “pitch” coaching from experienced investment professionals. Candidates will then deliver a “shark tank” like presentation to an audience and a panel of judges selected from the investment community.

Group 3: Workforce Development (CONTINUING IN 2026)

MISSION: Convening a diverse set of leaders from industry, government, and academia to examine the persistent gap between what universities are producing and what employers actually need.

THE OUTCOME: The group defined their work in two phases. Phase 1 (October to March) was dedicated to getting a strong grip on the challenge, resulting in foundational research and an incredibly insightful report on the true nature of the talent shortage.

WHAT’S NEXT: Phase 2 begins in April and will focus on launching pilot programs that address the major issues identified in the research, ensuring that students receive the relevant, experiential hands-on learning that employers demand.

The 2026 Working Group Program: Announcing Cyber Insurance

As the Undergraduate Academic Curriculum group sunsets and the Solutions Innovation and Workforce Development groups continue their vital work, we will inaugurate a brand-new group for 2026.

New Commission: Cyber Insurance Working Group

Our CyberBay 2026 Survey identified Cyber Insurance (alongside federal and state regulations) as the most influential external factor compelling organizations to improve their cyber hygiene.

To address this, the Cyber Insurance Working Group is being formed to delve deeper into this topic. The group will explore ways to normalize the criteria for insurability and simplify cybersecurity risk management for the entire CyberBay community. We already have a number of volunteers stepping up to participate, and the group is currently under formation. We will keep the CyberBay community posted as this exciting new initiative takes shape!