New innovation hub to secure Dundee’s place as Scottish cyber capital
Dundee is on the cusp of securing its position as Scotland’s cyber security capital following two major milestones.
Abertay University has been named among the first of eight UK universities to be awarded Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education recognition by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The accolade recognises Abertay’s teaching, research and outreach work and is linked to the University’s plans for the cyberQuarter.
So far, the cyberQuarter project has attracted £11.7m of UK and Scottish Government funding through the Tay Cities Region Deal as well as a further £6.5 million investment from Abertay.
Upon the signing of the Tay Cities Region Deal later this month, the new cyberQuarter will deliver an R&D centre to Abertay’s campus in Dundee, providing a space where industry, academics and students work together on new solutions to real-world cybersecurity problems.
The cyberQuarter is designed to attract existing cybersecurity firms to Dundee, support the creation of new companies and boost the security and resilience of the Scottish business community.
Professor Nigel Seaton, Principal of Abertay University said: “Being named a UK Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education and the launch of the cyberQuarter project will place the University and the city of Dundee at the heart of Scotland’s cyber security sector.
“We are confident that by combining academic expertise, student talent, enterprise support and industry knowledge in this way, we have all the ingredients for significant sectoral growth and new job opportunities, as well as innovation in research and business development.”
The NCSC also recognised a range of existing and planned work, including projects to increase female under-representation in the sector, an initiative to retrain armed forces veterans with cyber skills and a commitment to up-skill students and staff in general cybersecurity.
Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, said: “I am delighted we can now recognise the first tranche of universities as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education, complementing our existing programmes which recognise high quality cyber security research and degree courses.
“It is a testament to the continual efforts of academics, support staff and senior management that cyber security remains high on their agenda. We very much look forward to working with them over the coming years and strongly encourage other universities to work towards achieving similar recognition in the future.”
Deputy First Minister John Swinney MSP added: “My warmest congratulations to the team at Abertay University for achieving recognition as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education.
“This award from the National Cyber Security Centre is another step along the way to ensuring that Scotland is not only a cyber-resilient country but a leader in cyber security education.”