- Swindon & Wiltshire Cyber Cluster (SWCC) launched on 24 May at the Business Cyber Centre in Chippenham.
- SWCC announced future plans through 2022/2023, including the CyberICE Conference for the Future at the end of June.
- SWCC is formally recognised by UKC3 and through its events and programmes, supports its three pillars: innovation, cyber skills growth and ecosystem development.
Last month saw the launch of UKC3’s recognised cluster, Swindon & Wiltshire Cyber Cluster. To mark the occasion, the cluster held their first event, “Helping shape the environment of cyber security”, welcoming 25 cyber-led businesses from across the region, with an impressive line-up of speakers to celebrate the occasion.
The event was held at the newly opened UK’s first Business Cyber Centre (BCC) in Chippenham with guests participating in an exciting agenda covering the current state of cyber in the region, through key topics like operational resilience, strengthening the UK cyber, or SWCC’s role in bringing more innovation and collaboration through cyber security.
Brea Woods, Project Manager at SWCC said “I am delighted that the launch event for the Swindon & Wiltshire Cyber Cluster (SWCC) was such a success. We had wonderful speakers – Tom Marshall, Operations Manager at the Business Cyber Centre; Lauren Metalle from the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport and Alan Hill from Splunk – all leading on conversations around the key topic of Helping shape the environment of cyber security’.
It is a great time for the SWCC to help propel the creation of the best ecosystem for our local industries whilst dealing with society’s cyber challenges. Through collaboration, partnership opportunities, and networking, we aim for ideas and best practices to be shared and developed. This will provide our cyber security businesses the opportunities to find new ways to thrive and drive innovation across Swindon and Wiltshire whilst also supporting non-cyber businesses in the region.”
SWCC announced their future plans, which included the CyberICE Conference for the Future: Innovate, Collaborate, Educate, which will take place on 30 June. This event is dedicated to SMEs from all sectors and it is an opportunity for Swindon & Wiltshire Cyber Cluster to highlight their drive, strategy, mission, and collaboration plans.
Expert speakers from across the UK will present in person and via the state-of-the-art technology available at the Business Cyber Centre. Speakers for the conference include:
- Simon Hepburn, Chief Executive Officer of UK Cyber Security Council – will discuss their latest initiatives
- James Stanley, Head of Sectoral Engagement Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) – will discuss The National Cyber Strategy and supporting local ecosystems.
- Dominic Simonis – Law and Mike Madden, Defence and Security Accelerator Liaison, Ministry of Defence – will talk about how to get innovative ideas into defence and defence digital.
- Richard Yorke, Chair of the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3) – will talk about the role of UKC3, collaboration across all the clusters and future events.
- Professor Kamal Bechkoum and Laura Whitmore from The University of Gloucestershire, Cyber skills bootcamps – will be delving into their next wave of bootcamps being launched in October for the following skills: Cyber Analysts, Software Engineers, Data Analysts.
- Katie Stebbins, President of Global EPIC will talk about the International Cluster and the wider cyber community.
- Kerrianne Gould, Community Manager, Bristol and Bath Cyber Cluster – will be focussing on Cyber First and how clusters are supporting across their regions.
This event will be open to people outside of the Swindon and Wiltshire area so the cluster can showcase how they are supporting the region. Businesses can register here to secure their place.
Regarding SWCC’s role in developing the UK cyber sector, Brea added: “The cluster will also support both the UK Government’s Cyber Security Strategy and Swindon & Wiltshire’s Local Industrial Strategy by building cyber security knowledge, skills, infrastructure, and capabilities to make all local businesses more resilient to cyber-attacks through minimising risks.”
Swindon & Wiltshire Cyber Cluster is a UKC3-recognised cyber cluster that is contributing to growing the UK cyber sector across the three main pillars that UKC3 supports: innovation, cyber skills growth and ecosystem development. Through activities such as CyberICE and others to come, SWCC is disseminating UKC3’s cyber strategy across their region, and finding new collaboration avenues to support its goals. To find out more or to join, please head here.
