Cyber Working Group: 3rd March 2022

About this event

Cyber Security is critical to the operational wellbeing of the West Midlands and there is a strong history of technology innovation and adoption in this area. By bringing together cyber related organisations and influencers, including SMEs, academics, public sector and support organisation we have an opportunity to make the West Midlands more resilient whilst improving our cyber innovation capability.

Our focus is on collaboration and exploring ways to advance adoption and commercialisation of cyber security processes, policies, platforms and products. Through this collaborative development and promotion, we are sharing insights and best practices on relevant and emerging cyber technologies, used to deliver value to customers. The strength of the group comes in part from its insights across multiple sectors, including those involved in automotive, aerospace, defence, finance and rail, along with their extensive customer and supply chains.

We also work together to influence the strategies, policies and operational ingredients needed to maximise the benefits from the regions strong technology and business services networks.

Many thanks to all that attended the Cyber Working Group on 3^rd March.

Session Recap:

Prof Prashant Pillai

The Groups Chair, Prof Prashant Pillai, University of Wolverhampton, presented on:

• The UK’s national cyber strategy, and how pleased the region was to secure the launch in Birmingham in December 2021, providing a summary of the pillars and objectives.
• Opening a consultation on the potential terms of reference for the group, which are based existing ToR from other Innovation Alliance sister working groups as a starting point.
• Prashant also provided a platform for Vladlena Benson, Aston University who provided early insight into mapping activity happening at a national level, supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

You can access Prashant’s slides below:

Daljinder Mattu

Following Prashant, we heard from Daljinder Mattu, Senior Policy Lead for Cyber in the Midlands at DCMS. Daljinder gave a 101 of wider DCMS cyber activity including several workshops aimed at cyber business resilience, community, youngsters, and guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre.

You can access Daljinder’s slides below:

Points to note:

There is an ambition for a regional Cyber Advisory Group to be established, which will act as an intermediary between government and cyber communities such as this cyber working group. The governance of that group is to be determined but it is important that, as with all other Innovation Alliance working groups, we enable a bottom up voice that can feed into the advisory groups communications, and also gain steer from the AG on how the region can benefit from government direction and support to ensure opportunities can be seized and exploited for economic benefit.

Next Session:

At the next session on 12^th May it’s your turn to have a voice on what you are looking for from being part of this cyber community and how you feel your organisation has the potential to respond to the pillars of the national strategy. This activity will be used to finalise the groups terms of reference in line with stakeholder demand.

We are also conscious that to sustain a thriving community you all need to get to know each other! That’s why we will be facilitating a virtual speed networking session to allow you to do just that.

Finally, we are also looking to ensure stakeholders get a platform to give a more detailed account of their activity. We will be looking for two organisations per session to take the virtual floor and give us a 10-minute deep-dive into who you are and any asks of the group moving forwards. Be that collaborative partnerships for funding opportunities, events, or problem solving, let us help you work with the strengths of your community fellows to do more, better, faster and together. All we ask is you don’t just pitch for business! If you would like to take a slot then please let us know by reply and we’ll allocate timings on a first come, first served basis.

You can register for the 12^th May here.

Future Cyber Working Group Dates for your diary:

• 12th May – 10-11:30am
• 7th July – 10-11:30am
• 8th September – 10-11:30am
• 10th November – 10-11:30am