Malvern Hills Science Park in Worcestershire – pictured, by Jan Sedlacek – is one of four ‘game changer’ sites across the county, delivering what Worcestershire County Council calls its vision to deliver a ‘World-Class Worcestershire’.
Working with Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the county council is aiming to boost the economic value of the county by around £2.9bn and creating 25,000 new jobs by 2025.
Malvern Hills is home to QinetiQ, 3SDL, Borwell, UTC Aerospace Systems and Dephrisk. The UK’s National Cyber Skills Centre is sitting at its hub.
Seed funded by WCC, the centre is a focal point for cyber activity and was the UK’s only e-skills accredited centre. This plus the cluster of high profile cyber security companies based at Malvern is helping the LEP attract businesses to the region, the council says.
Dr Stephen Wright, general manager of the National Cyber Skills Centre, says: “Cyber is an intrinsic part of our private and business life and protecting it from being misused needs to be a priority. Businesses and individuals can defend themselves from 90 per cent of attacks by taking some basic defensive steps – it is just knowing what those steps are which is where we can help.
“Cybersecurity is an on-going threat and the knowledge based at Malvern Hills will help change the game for the region and UK.”
Dr Ken Pollock, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure, says: “Worcestershire is open for business and we are seeing a real turn around in both investment to the area and the skills that investment brings. We have the third fastest growing economy in the UK and a large part of this is the investment made in game changer site such as Malvern Hills.
“Any cyber, defence, IT or technology business looking for a UK hub can see that Worcestershire has like-minded organisations which are keeping the UK safe by developing technologies to prevent cyber-attacks.”
Phase 5 is under way at Malvern Hills after a £4m investment from Worcestershire’s LEP. Phase 4 came in 2015 after investment from WCC and Malvern Hills District Council.
