Head of Cyber Ciara has been out and about this month, helping to promote the work of the cyber sector and celebrate some of its achievements.
Things certainly feel back to normal from the event side of things and it was great to be at InfoSec in London this week. Great to see so many folk from Scotland there and in particular a shout out to BlackWired and SafeShark who were both part of the DCMS innovation showcase at InfoSec. I was there with my Scotland and UKC3 hats on, promoting the work of the cyber clusters throughout the UK and explaining why local connectivity is so key to helping growing the cyber sectors across the UK.
I was also delighted to attend the Abertay cyberQuarter official opening in Dundee last week and be back again a day later for the Scotland Women in Cyber event, both events being great occasions to celebrate the impact that Abertay Uni is having on the cyber sector in Scotland. Well done to all the team at Abertay for what they have achieved. I’m excited to see what’s coming next for the cyberQuarter and am planning to be up there on a regular basis, so do come and say hi if you are there.
Next week I am in Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Dundee and Glasgow, so out and about and catching up with a number of individuals and organisations along the way. I am particularly excited to have been invited to officiate the opening of the new PlanB Consulting office in Glasgow, very honoured for them to have asked me.
With summer soon upon us we are now looking ahead to our autumn plans and wanted to highlight the Cyber Runway event which will run on the 23rd and 24th November this year. Day 2 will be part of a competition-based programme culminating in a pitching day. Applications will open in July. We’ve deliberately timed this around the Scotland Cyber Awards to make it a few days of focusing on and celebrating cyber innovation in Scotland. Applications for the cyber awards are now open so get your entries in – if you are not in you can’t win!! It is always an amazing night of celebrating the cyber community in Scotland so a night not to be missed even if you aren’t intending entering for an award.
We are still looking for industry to get involved in a number of different skills related projects across the ScotlandIS Critical Friends programme, NCSC CyberFirst programme and a DCMS SANS re-training programme to help people at any stage of their career move into cyber security. We need industry to support by giving some of their time, or offering student placements or interviews where possible.
If you would like more information on any of these please do get in touch at cyber@scotlandis.com.