Increased threats from hackers and phishing scams against everything from big business to personal banking accounts means there is a demand for security firms, Mary O’Neill, vice-president for Finish tech giant Nokia, said at Digital Creative 519, a conference at Museum London.

“It’s a massive opportunity. If you look at the security space, just turn on the news and people are talking vulnerability,” O’Neill said after her talk.

“There is a huge investment going into cyber-security. The more technology you have, the more chance there is of risk, the more expanded attacks you have, the more places people can access things.”

The DC519 conference, sponsored by the London Economic Development Corp., featured guest speakers on several technology-related issues impacting business and attracted about 50 businesses and 200 attendees.

O’Neill has been working with the Ontario government to encourage more start-ups in the cyber-security sector, she said.

“It’s a natural fit for Canada and Ontario given our technology and knowledge.”

Rob Dickson, from London and a Western University graduate, is software pricing specialist with Nokia, and has seen graduates from Western University and Fanshawe College snapped up by tech firms in Ottawa, meaning London businesses can be part of that wave, he said.

“There are quality programs here in post-secondary, a number of people we hired are from London. There seems to be good activity in London,” he said.

The afternoon conference also heard from Lori Casselman — who was president and chief operator at TribalScale, a position she recently left — on accessing global markets. Jonathan Kochis, designer at UX, and Jon Rundle, senior product designer Envoy, spoke about product design.

In addition, Patrick Gregory, director of product at Mobials Inc. in London, spoke about team building and Duncan Stewart, director of technology, media, and telecommunications research for Deloitte Canada, identified the top trends in tech.

“Our digital creative sector has flourished recently with companies like Digital Extremes, Info-Tech Research Group, Voices.com and these conferences help us identify what is on the horizon, what is emerging and what we have to pay attention to, such as cyber-security, artificial intelligence and the industrial internet of things,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“These are emerging areas we need to pay attention to for training and education and attracting capital.”

Nokia also is investing heavily in analytics and artificial intelligence. It employs about 2,000 in Canada, largely in Ottawa, O’Neill said.