Cyber firm’s decision to open new HQ in Gloucestershire speaks volumes

A cyber firm’s decision to move to Gloucestershire speaks volumes about the county - and sends a strong message about how effective former GFirst LEP teams can be working from inside the council.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Raikes Journal. It is a members only edition.

As we seek to make what we do sustainable - providing some real journalism to support Gloucestershire business, charity and education and training sectors - we often paywall our Thursday and Friday editions, making them accessible only to our members.

Friday is becoming our round-up of the week, featuring the best stories we’ve written or spotted that we think are relevant, plus another piece of orginal journalism often in the form of a long read of Top 100 article. All usually also locked except to our paying subscribers.

Today we’ve taken a story that went out as a general press release and had a proper look at it. We did that so we can tell you who the company really is, and because we felt strongly that there was a significant message here too for anyone who might have questioned just how effective the teams that made the work of GFirst LEP so special can be now they are under the wing of Gloucestershire County Council.

We also enjoyed the fact that the story gives some glory to one of our Founding Partners, Gloucestershire College. Its efforts with the cyber sector were a factor worthy of credit in the firm’s decision to open its new HQ here in the county.

Please do send us your story ideas to andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061.

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* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College and Merrell People; our sponsors: Randall & Payne and Hartpury University and Hartpury College; our Founding Members and all our wonderful paying subscribers. If you upgrade to paid too, you’ll be able to see beyond the paywalls we place on many of our second and third email editions of the week and that lock our archive after two weeks. You will be able to view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series comment on our stories and you’ll be helping to make possible this community interest company dedicated to supporting the county, its businesses, charities and education and training providers — all for just £2.30 per week!! For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Some briefing notes

(As today’s main story below is cyber-focused we thought we’d lay down another couple of quick shorts first on that very same theme).

💻 🖱️ CyNam, the Cheltenham-based Gloucestershire cyber security ‘cluster’ has been awarded funding for the Barclays Eagle Labs Ecosystem Partnership Programme. 

The programme will help CyNam “forge greater collaboration between its cyber security and emerging technology clusters, unlocking the region’s world-leading capability in securing emerging technologies”. 

Those ‘clusters’ include space, AI, AgriTech, quantum, and semiconductors. The programme will enable CyNam to offer fast-track entrepreneurial programmes, one-to-one mentoring, events, workshops, and more. 

You can read the full press release in our PR Wire channel here. 

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🖱️ ⌨️ We have followed the rise and rise of Cheltenham-based ReformIT for a while now, and are thrilled to see its name in lights this week.

The firm, founded by Neil Smith, and now a major player in the county’s managed service provider sector serving all sorts of organisations, has become the first local MSP to earn dual accreditations as a Cyber Advisor and a Cyber Essentials Certification Body.

Launched by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the IASME Consortium, the Cyber Advisor scheme aims to help businesses strengthen their defences against cyber threats.

The accreditation allows ReformIT to certify and assist businesses in achieving the sought-after Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus standards. We send it a massive congratulations.

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OUR LEAD STORY…

Cyber firm’s decision to locate HQ in Gloucestershire speaks volumes

A cyber firm’s decision to open a new headquarters in Gloucestershire speaks volumes about the county – and it answers some of the questions about just how effective former GFirst LEP teams can be after moving in-house at the county council.

The Cheltenham campus of Gloucestershire College, home also to a Hub8 office space and Advanced Digital Academy

News broke this week that cyber firm Darkforce had signed terms on a new Gloucestershire office to to establish a headquarters for its operations in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and create jobs – making it the latest digital firm to add to the growing number clustering close to GCHQ.  

What stood out in the story for Raikes was that the decision by the New Zealand-born tech firm to choose to locate itself at Cheltenham’s Hub8 office space was heavily influenced by Invest in Gloucestershire, a team that previously run by the influential and independent GFirst LEP.

After 13 years successfully helping drive the county’s economy, news that the Government was closing the local enterprise partnership and that its key services would go in-house at the county council was greeted with scepticism about how effective they could be.

But if Invest in Gloucestershire, one of the LEP’s former programmes set up to drive inwards investment into the county, needed to fire off a convincing ‘business as usual’ message the announcement about Darkscope was not just quick, but a strong start too.

It was able to introduce the firm to the burgeoning digital community through its contacts at cyber networking group, CyNam, and show how the education sector – in particular Gloucestershire College - is also set-up to serve that ecosystem.