Consortium Secures 1 Million Grant for Cybersecurity Learning Community Programma CYRCLE

Consortium of Universities of Applied Sciences secures 1 million Grant for Cybersecurity Learning Community Programma CYRCLE. The initiative focuses on strengthening the cyber resilience of SMEs through structural collaboration between education, research, industry and public sector partners. The grant of €1 million awarded is allocated for phase 1. Following this, the consortium may receive or apply for €2.2 million. On 4 June, the consortium kicked-off during an event in Zwolle featuring pitches by Annelotte Vonk (Regieorgaan SIA), Martijn Neef (Ministry of EZ) and Erik Fledderus (programme leader CYRCLE).

CYRCLE brings together an extensive ecosystem of education, research, industry and public organisations in so-called learning communities, collaborative environments in which stakeholders work structurally on real-world cybersecurity challenges. Across the Netherlands, four regional clusters (east, south, north and west) and five leading universities of applied sciences (Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Avans University of Applied Sciences, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and The Hague University of Applied Sciences) each focus on a specific area of expertise, ranging from behavioural change to security by design in the manufacturing industry.

Over the coming period, four regional clusters will establish sustainable partnerships. In the next phase, these will continue as learning communities. In addition, the cluster leaders will meet regularly to share their knowledge and experiences. This will strengthen not only regional but also national cohesion.

The four clusters and their respective lecturers are:

• East Region – People-centred cyber resilience – Remco Spithoven
• South Region – Security by Design in the manufacturing industry – Rick van der Kleij
• North Region – OT & cybersecurity culture – Jurjen Jansen
• West Region – Serious gaming for cyber risk management – Peter Roelofsma

The Cyber Security Living Lab

One of the consortium partners is the Hague University of Applied Sciences with their Cyber Security Living Lab (CSyLL). Under the leadership of Peter Roelofsma, Professor of Management & Cybersecurity, the lab leads the western regional cluster. The Cyber Security Living Lab has already built strong partnerships with industry to develop interactive simulations and games that help organisations gain insight into their cyber risks and improve their decision-making capabilities.

Peter Roelofsma - Director of CSyLL: “Together with companies such as Lumen, Siemens and Infinity IT, we are already working on concrete challenges. This funding allows us to further expand and deepen these collaborations"

Student involvement and multidisciplinary collaboration

Students from a wide range of IT & Design programmes contribute to the development and implementation of the projects, including Simulation & Gaming, Information Security Management, and Applied Data Science & Artificial Intelligence. The initiative also involves collaboration with other knowledge institutions such as Leiden University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Delft University of Technology.

Together, these partnerships create a multidisciplinary ecosystem in which technical, organisational and human aspects of cybersecurity are addressed in an integrated and practical way, helping to build a more resilient digital future for Dutch SMEs.

Involvement Security Delta (HSD)

The call was launched by SIA in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs. HSD Office contributed by sharing our knowledge for setting up this call for proposals and the funding conditions, aiming for sharing knowledge and collaboration across regions. In addition, HSD is involved by signing a letter of support for this consortium and through our rol within DigitalZH (a European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH)). In the Netherlands five EDIHs work together on a national level and stimulate innovation and support SMEs in adopting digital technologies, in close collaboration with Topsector ICT.