UPDATE 10 May 2022: Today I missed the State Opening of Parliament to open not just Wiltshire’s first Business Cyber Centre but in fact the UK’s first business-led Cyber Centre here in Chippenham at Greenways Business Park.
I have been campaigning for investment into Chippenham to help level us up and helped secure the £3.7 million of government investment.
The centre will create a whopping 250 new jobs and 1,700 training opportunities. It will also attract further investment into our town which will create more high paid and high skilled jobs for local people.
Well done to all involved especially Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership who worked tirelessly to deliver the Cyber Centre.
I see each week just how Chippenham and our county is awash with talented individuals and thriving businesses who need some additional support to help grow and The Cyber Centre will do just that. It will turn cyber complexity into cyber confidence by closing the cyber skills gap allowing people and businesses to learn and grow through training and cyber professional level courses.
Did you know that more than a third of UK companies have suffered a security breach in the last 12 months? In fact Cyber attacks are estimated to cause losses of £2.7 billion worth of data and assets each year across the UK and £29.5 million here in Wiltshire!
Yet 29% of UK SMEs cancelled their cyber insurance policy in 2021 increasing their financial risk. This also highlights that we need to raise awareness of the real threat of cyber attacks which this centre will do.
Having the UK’s first Business Cyber Centre here will put Chippenham, Wiltshire on the map as a hub of cyber security, digital innovation and technology.
UPDATE 4 August 2022: Last month the Prime Minister announced the creation of a £900m ‘Getting Building Fund’, for shovel-ready projects across the length and breadth of the country. Today, these projects have been announced. I have been pushing the case for investment in a local Business Cyber Centre site which will now be getting £3.7 Million!!
The new site is still to be confirmed publicly but I can tell you that. IT IS HERE WITHIN THE CHIPPENHAM CONSTITUENCY!
I have long championed Wiltshire as a hub of STEM and digital innovation and I have pushed for more investment in Wiltshire to lead the way in cyber. This money from the Conservative government will create 250 job and 1700 training opportunities a year. The development will attract further investment and other businesses will hopefully see a positive effect from the arrival of the Business Cyber Centre.
At the intersection of the Cyber Valley, Western Gateway and MOD cyber centre, the Business Cyber Centre unites industry, Military, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Academic expertise.
Three capabilities will drive growth: a cyber response team; an academy and employment hub; and an accelerator. This Centre of Excellence assures small med enterprises cyber resilience and helps close the cyber skills gap. It will complement existing courses and qualifications available in Wiltshire and in the Chippenham constituency and help attract more specialist expertise to the area.
The training element will proactively seek candidates from under-represented groups and re-skilling military leavers. The Centre facilitates will allow for flexible workforce by opening up remote-working employment opportunities. The Business Cyber levels-up the UK Cyber presence as a rural hub for businesses and is really exciting news for the county.