It’s hard to believe how much the centre has achieved in the past 12 months.

We started out as a business proposal to the seven police forces at the end of 2020 and are now a fully functional limited company. And we sit within a growing network that is supported by the National Centre – launched a few days ago by the Justice Minister Damian Hinds.

Our messaging on social and conventional media has reached tens of thousands of people, we have engaged with dozens of private membership bodies, public sector organisations and centres for academic study across the region.

We have a reach of over 200 companies after only 6 months, some of whom have been involved in actually setting the company up. And we continue to produce high quality content for businesses to help them navigate the tricky world of cyber security. And with retail featuring as our first sector specific in the New Year we are already gearing up for the National Retail Expo at the Excel.

Like my predecessor commented – working on the Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre is bit like building an airplane as you’re flying it – as police officers and staff setting up and then running a company ourselves has been a really steep learning curve. At this point I would just like to say a massive thank you to our Board members, Trusted Partners and Advisory group who continue to work really hard promoting the centre and advising us around our strategic direction. We would not be in the strong position that we are without you all.

And finally, I would like to thank Detective Inspector Fiona Bail – the centre’s Head of Cyber and Innovation. Put simply, most of the good stuff that the centre creates is down to her tenacity and commitment to support the regions businesses.

So to all of our members, and those of you who continue to support our work - have a really happy and safe Christmas holiday with your family and friends.

Hopefully we will get to see each other in person in 2022!

Paul Lopez

Managing Director