Andrew Barr could see it. That's why, even though the event was never going to make the news that night, or even a radio grab during the day, Barr carved out the time to launch CYNAPSE during a busy day. And the program's business backers saw it, too, even if they did outnumber the others at the small, early morning presentation launching the program.

It was one of those events where the small attendance was, almost directly, inversely correlated with the significance of new possibility.

There are two ways of understanding CYNAPSE.

The first is simple - it's a program to give opportunities to people who've missed out. This includes people with disability, or people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and First Nations backgrounds.

The sort of people who, as children, might not have thrived in the school system. Or perhaps people who've had an interrupted path into the cyber workforce, including veterans, neurodiverse individuals, or even those who never laid the foundations for study because, perhaps, they had a bad maths teacher in fourth grade and hated numbers from then on.

All sorts of silly reasons explain how, and why, people begin to slip. What's needed is a way of picking them up: finding a way for individuals to thrive.

Despite all the stress the education system places on achievement it's not very good at this process. Anyone who doesn't fit the mould of standardised progression and general accomplishment, year after year, is dropped by the wayside. CYNAPSE offers participants a new path to get ahead. It accepts not everyone is the same and some individuals have very different skills and capacities.

What's important is understanding just because you can't do one thing doesn't mean you can't be a brilliant overachiever in so many other ways. And this is the second aspect of the program. It's not just about giving poor performers another chance - it's about getting the best people into the right jobs.

The evidence is quite clear. An Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank is just one measure of ability and, although there's some correlation between high ATAR and success at university, even this is not absolute. More particularly our current post-school education system depends almost completely on one style of progression. Anybody who misses a step is pushed out of the way.

You don't need to think very hard to work out which type of person is less likely to fit the mould. What CYNAPSE does is build a new framework around their capabilities, rather than attempting to force them into a straightjacket they can't get over their heads. It's a program that's been developed by someone who's worked at the front line of finding a way to address the urgent need for cyber skills in the Australian workforce.

Matt Wilcox began his career as a cyber operator with the Defence Signals Directorate. Shifting roles, however, saw him working with PwC and developing a role teaching cyber skills to others, including at ADFA. He began understanding the key obstacle to developing capacity in this vital area is a talent funnel: universities are just not churning out enough of the right sorts of people to fill the jobs available.

Indeed, it may actually be that the traditional way of educating people for this work (via a three-year degree) might be unintentionally excluding exactly the sort of people who are ideal for working in this industry. CYNAPSE is Wilcox's answer.

It's designed to solve the cyber-skills shortage and provide opportunities to people who would otherwise be pushed aside and marginalised by the current education system. As such it's a brilliantly designed, radical change to the way things are done.

As with most good solutions, Wilcox's is clean and full of opportunity. He began by putting together a team of partners from the cyber, finance, recruitment and education sectors.

This has given the scheme the depth and financial scale it will need to sustain it as it begins operating, combined with breath. A person might not be right for a cyber position with, for example, ASD, but that doesn't mean there isn't another computer job that would be ideal for them. What's needed is a knowledgeable broker who can solve that problem and find the solution.

Unfortunately, however, this is exactly the equation that many on the margins of society can't solve. They require a matchmaker, but one that is capable of both assessing what people can do and then training them up with the baseline skills to allow them to begin productive work.

Tertiary study isn't structured like that. A journalism degree, for example, spends three years teaching would-be reporters to work in print, radio, television and online and equips graduates with all sorts of analytical skills, most of which they will never (or rarely) get the chance to use. CYNAPSE focuses in on what's necessary. A core part of the program will includes assessing and measuring cyber skills and aptitude.

This will provide employers and recruiters with important insights such as where people need extra training and what they're particularly good at. This same tool will allow people who might otherwise be marginalised - such as neurodiverse individuals or those who don't naturally fit in - to be assessed for what they can do, rather than stereotyped and dismissed because of who they seem to be.

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The pros seem obvious. Recruitment bias should be minimised or removed; larger pools of talent will open up; and identifying particular skill shortcomings will allow individuals to choose specifically targeted courses to correct their weaknesses and make them more attractive to employers.

CYNAPSE's current project is a pilot and the details are on the website.

Former senator Kate Lundy was at the launch and her career shows what anyone determined can accomplish. At former builders' labourer without university qualifications, she later became minister for the digital economy. There are many paths to success: university is just one of them.