Business Cyber Centre

There are some 5.8m SMEs registered at Companies House with 562k in the South West alone, demonstrating the need, and potential reach and impact of the BCC.  Support for SMEs to understand, navigate and assess the cyber threats to their business is not an easy task. 

The BCC will partner with government departments and funded organisations such as the National Cyber Security Centre to address this pressing need, starting locally /regionally and moving to a national service offering.  Products and services provided by the BCC will quickly become trusted and valued within the SME community through the ease of consumption adopting a plain English approach and of course, at appropriate SME rates. 

The BCC has already engaged with its key stakeholders and strategic partners locally which include MoD Corsham, University of Bath and a series of private sector organisations.   The aim is to create a private, commercial space for meetings between the MoD, their primes and their supply chains. This facility will act as a catalyst for the intended community and ecosystem.   

Cyber-attacks are a persistent threat to all sectors of the UK economy, and are estimated to cause losses of £2.7 billion worth of data and assets per annum across the UK and £29.5 million every year in Swindon and Wiltshire alone[1].  Covid-19 has increased people’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks by making UK citizens more reliant on individual portals, networks and remote technology.

The objectives of the Business Cyber Centre (BCC) are to:

• Deliver economic growth across the Swindon and Wiltshire, Cyber Valley and Western Gateway areas by supporting its existing and emerging digital and cyber security businesses.
• Meet Government Objectives to resolve the UK’s cyber skills gap by providing education and training.
• Invest in cyber security skills and services to lever private sector investment and co-location.
• Develop opportunities for collaboration between government, the Armed Forces, industry, and academia in the cyber industry.

 It will adopt good practice from the CyberSpark Cyber Technology Campus in Be’er Sheva, Israel, and will capitalise on Corsham & Chippenham’s proximity to London, Skylon Park, Malvern Hill’s Science & Technology Park, GCHQ, MoD Corsham and Dstl.  It will also contribute to the strategic objectives of a range of local, regional, and national partners, including SWLEP, Wiltshire and Swindon Councils and the MoD, and will support the UK National Cyber Strategy’s vision to make the UK “secure and resilient to digital threats, [and] prosperous and confident in the digital world”.

[1] Figures based on 32% of businesses operating in the UK (2,669,440 in 2018 and 29,915 across Swindon and Wiltshire)