Bristol and Bath Cyber is a community of cyber entrepreneurs, employers, practitioners, educators, investors and collaborators (and those with a general interest!), who engage on a regular basis to share expertise and wisdom, to encourage innovation and best practice, and to act as a cyber focal point for the region. Cyber is a growth sector requiring a constant pipeline of talent. With a membership base of nearly 600, we jointly champion activities aimed at addressing the Cyber skills shortage and increasing diversity within the Cyber Sector in the Bristol and Bath Region.
Bristol and Bath Cyber’s mission statement is to serve as a platform for innovation and collaboration, with the goal of developing the Cyber ecosystem and driving economic growth within the region. We provide opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, sharing of best practice, and identification of opportunities for regional growth. We work across both public and private sectors and also academia, but with a specific focus on our innovative SME community.
The leadership team is drawn from local Entrepreneurs Tim Moran, Elaine Brown, Simon Minton, with support from TechSPARK. Tim founded a local Cyber Security company and holds the role of Chairman. An ex Cold War Submariner, he now has 30 years’ experience in IT Networking, Cyber Security and Cyber Intelligence. He focuses on developing the regional eco-system.
Elaine heads up the Unlock Cyber project, an employer-led initiative to help raise awareness and understanding of the opportunities that exist within cyber. The group works collaboratively with schools across the region to signpost and develop opportunities for young people in order to create a diverse future workforce with the right skills needed to succeed.
Simon is keen to help the cyber industry become more diverse and inclusive. He’s excited about the emerging UK cyber start-up scene and is involved with multiple tech start-ups in Bristol and beyond. In addition, TechSPARK is the Southwest’s network for tech start-ups and scale ups, working with 25,000 people a month to help them recruit, network and raise capital in the UK’s most productive Tech cluster.
We act as an innovation enabler by promoting the sharing of best practices and cyber knowledge within the region, ultimately leading to economic growth within the cyber sector.
Bristol and Bath is the perfect location for innovation and collaboration due to its current and historical regional focus on technology. Combining this with the ease of networking within the region ensures Bristol and Bath has one of the largest economic technology sectors in the UK.
Bristol & Bath Cyber significantly benefits from and leverages relationships with the University of Bristol, the University of the West of England (UWE), the University of Bath, and Bath Spa University, encouraging more cyber related studies, spin-outs and careers within the cyber industry.
Cyber businesses within the region clearly benefit from access to more talent and skills which will present greater opportunity for growth and yet further employment opportunities.
The UK Government has recognised the importance of developing regional clusters. Working with the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and the Western Gateway, we are looking forward to further building and supporting our diverse cyber community and establishing Bristol and Bath Cyber as a recognisable global brand. This will promote inward investment to further expand our sector, cementing the region’s position as one of the most important cyber hubs around the globe.
We are very excited about further engaging schools and universities within the region, with the aim of expanding interest in cyber careers with young people. This will help develop future cyber talent, close the future skills gap and grow our regional GDP. We also hope to host our next cyber conference in Bristol post-COVID, following the success of our previous event in 2019.
