A new Cyber Innovation Hub is to be put in place to help Wales become a global leader in the sector will be operational later this year, thanks to a £3 million investment from the Welsh Government, First Minister, Mark Drakeford announced today.
It’s hoped the new Innovation Hub will train more than 1,000 cyber-skilled individuals and grow the cyber security sector in Wales by more than 50% by 2030.
What does this involve?
The Welsh Government is making a £3 million investment in the new Hub over 2 years, with £3 million of co-funding from Cardiff Capital Region and £3.5 million of in-kind match funding from consortium partners.
The creation of this hub will create a significant change to Wales’ existing cyber security expertise to operate together in coordinated cluster-based activities. It will bring industry, government and academic partners together, including our fantastic customer Cardiff University, to grow the Welsh cybersecurity sector. Providing Welsh cyber security professionals with the opportunity to broaden their skills, create innovation and strengthen solutions.
Why does this aim to achieve?
By 2030, the Hub aims to have:
- Grow the cyber security sector in Wales by more than 50% in terms of volume of businesses
- Attract more than £20 million in private equity investment to scale around 50% of these businesses
- Train more than 1,000 cyber-skilled individuals
Why is this important for us?
Helping organisations to have to achieve the best cyber security posture has always been a top key priority for us! So, it's great to see the Welsh Government's dedication to highlighting the importance of cyber security with this investment to encourage growth, recognition and training in this area.
In the last couple of years, cyber security breaches and their impacts have been more critical than ever, an example being the Log4j vulnerability at the end of last year. However, it became clear to us that there wasn't enough awareness in place to highlight the significance of these threats.
By providing people with a greater insight and awareness around cyber security, we hope this encourages organisations to recognise the importance of putting these measures in place.
This is definitely a step in the right direction and we can't wait to see the impact it has on the importance of cyber security.
The pandemic has highlighted just how important cyber innovation is in supporting and protecting information-sharing whilst offering data and insight to help keep the region moving and growing
