Microsoft wants to work with Congress to establish cybersecurity measures for civilians, the company's president told CNBC Wednesday.

Speaking to CNBC at the 2018 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Brad Smith said Microsoft wanted to address the "fundamental question" of safeguarding the population against cyber threats — but he said the outcome of the midterm election would not hinder that mission.

"Most technology issues so far have not been partisan issues," he said. "The big shift has been (that) the era where everyone was just excited about technology has become an era where people are excited and concerned at the same time — and that's not unreasonable."

He explained that concerns ranged from threats to democracy to the role of artificial intelligence in the future of work.

"There are important things we need to address, we need to skill the population to be prepared for a new generation of work, (and) we need to bring broadband to every corner of not just the United states, but every country," Smith told CNBC's Karen Tso.

"I think the Democrats will be interested in some of these things, Republicans will too, so with a little luck (and) a lot of hard work perhaps we can build some bipartisan support."