East Midlands businesses will gain support to strengthen their defences against the growing threat of cybercrime as part of the UK-wide Cyber Local programme.

East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster (EMCSC) will work with De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) on a £150,000 project aimed at supporting local firms, with particular emphasis on manufacturing, logistics, and professional services.

Led by EMCSC founder Dr Ismini Vasileiou, who is also an Associate Professor at DMU), the project will offer practical, hands-on support to businesses that want to improve how they manage cyber risk, train staff, and future-proof their operations.

The project will be delivered in collaboration with 1284 Communications, a regional PR consultancy known for telling the story of innovation-led growth, and Bulb Studios, a digital design agency that specialises in turning complex ideas into accessible, user-centred solutions.

Funded through the Government’s Cyber Local scheme, this project will run through to March 2026.

takes a hands-on approach to tackling one of the region’s biggest economic challenges: how to make cyber resilience not just the responsibility of IT departments, but a core part of how organisations think, operate and grow.

The East Midlands project was one of just 20 funded across England, and was selected from more than 110 applications.

Dr Vasileiou said:

The programme is designed to meet businesses where they are. It’s aimed particularly at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do not have dedicated cyber security expertise in-house or rely on the same trusted person to ‘do the IT’.

The reality is that cyber threats have changed. Ransomware, phishing scams and data breaches are constantly looking for weaknesses. Whether you’ve got a full IT team or just someone who’s always ‘looked after the computers,’ now’s the time to think differently.

Dr Vasileiou said the project will be about building confidence and capability.

Our mission is to make cyber resilience as second nature as health and safety.

As a region powering the UK’s manufacturing, logistics, and professional sectors, the East Midlands urgently needs practical, localised cyber support to protect its businesses and sustain economic growth.

This project turns national ambition into local action – equipping East Midlands businesses with the tools to become resilient, confident, and digitally secure.

A East Midlands Cyber Local pilot has been carefully designed to deliver measurable outcomes in Autumn 2025 and Spring 2026.

Through tailored interventions, the pilot will directly support 30 businesses to embed cyber resilience at every level – from boardrooms to shop floors.

This will include:

• 15 businesses taking part in a structured programme to build organisational cyber resilience, focusing on governance and strategy
• 10 businesses being supported to develop internal cyber workforce plans, identifying and reskilling existing staff into cyber roles
• 5 businesses hosting academic placements from DMU to trial research-led cyber innovations
• A sustained outreach campaign to target traditionally underrepresented organisations, ensuring project benefits extend beyond those already engaged in the cyber sector.

The project builds on the momentum of EMCSC’s delivery of the £76,000 CyberSprint: Fast Track to the Future project as part of the 2024/25 Cyber Local programme.

CyberSprint engaged more than 90 schools and colleges, helped embed cyber security into workforce development, and culminated in a Parliamentary roundtable on the future of the UK’s cyber workforce.

It also led to the creation of a Cyber Skills Ecosystem Toolkit, which is now being deployed in this new phase.

The new Cyber Local programme is focused not on tech companies or digital startups, but on the everyday businesses that power the region – especially those without the luxury of an in-house cyber team.

It will culminate in the East Midlands Cyber Growth Summit, a major regional event that will showcase project successes, forge new partnerships, and lay the foundations for an annual industry network.

Upon conclusion of the project, in March 2026, EMCSC will take over, scaling up the tested models and commercialising them for long-term use.