It was disclosed on Tuesday that Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of Hitachi, Ltd., will lead the new Industrial Cyber Security Promotion Center established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The center, which will be launched in April, aims to train experts on cybersecurity skills to protect the country’s infrastructure. Nakanishi was asked to take the post because of his extensive knowledge in the field of technology and his experience with infrastructure operations as part of Hitachi’s business that involves plants and railroad systems.

The new center, which will start operating under the Information-technology Promotion Agency in April, is scheduled to accept about 100 expert trainees for the first year from over 30 infrastructure-related businesses such as electric, gas and water utilities, as well as railroad operators and automakers.

The trainees will be employees who have five to ten years of experience working in the security-related sections of infrastructure and raw material-related entities. The training program will last for a year and is designed to teach specific vulnerabilities and methods of protecting infrastructure systems through various means, including “real-time mock exercises.”

The program will be linked to its U.S. counterpart and a joint exercise is planned for this year. Those who complete the program with excellent performance will be given an opportunity to study further in the U.S.

Nakanishi’s role as the center’s head is to point out the best security system platforms for the stable operation of plants and systems from the point of view of an infrastructure business operator.