The pre-launch of the West Midlands Cyber Hub at Enterprise Wharf brought together over 100 leaders from across the region’s cyber ecosystem, CISOs, CTOs, startups, universities, government, community partners, students, practitioners, and members of the interested public. What began as a vision to give the West Midlands a proper home for cyber has now become real, supported by DSIT, Innovate UK, Aston University, West Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre, Midlands Cyber, TechWM and the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands.
The day celebrated Birmingham’s grit and resilience, with panels, open discussion, and plenty of humour, from Runaround-style workshops to tours of the building, veranda and even the newly christened “Cyber Gym”. Key themes emerged: the need for government presence, the richness and diversity of the region, and alignment with the DSIT Cyber Growth Action Plan. Above all, the Hub was recognised as an acorn, a community space with the potential to grow into a mighty oak for the West Midlands.
Contents
Introduction
What a week. What a few days. Honestly, I’m still buzzing. On Tuesday, we opened the pre-launch of the West Midlands Cyber Hub at Enterprise Wharf, and it was everything I hoped it would be.
More than 100 people came (and remember, this was announced only two weeks ago!). CISOs and CTOs of major organisations, founders of startups, academics from every university in the region, local leaders, and friends from right across the cyber community. The turnout was phenomenal, but the spirit in the room was even better: collaboration, pride, and a sense that this really is our hub.
Opening Words
Rebecca Robinson compered, and after doing the opening housekeeping, introduced me to start with a short talk. I pointed down the road towards Aston Cross and Nechells, the inner-city patch under the shadow of Spaghetti Junction, where I grew up. It was important for me to ground this project in Birmingham’s grit and resilience: the sense that, even from tough beginnings, you can build an industry, a career, and now, hopefully, a hub that belongs to everyone.
The Hub has been a long time coming. When I first picked up the chair of the West Midlands Cyber Working Group, the truth was our community felt a bit scattered. Then I saw a DSIT slide that scored the West Midlands as weak in cyber community coherence. That stung. As a proud Brummie, I felt it cut deep. But it was also the wake-up call; we needed a proper home for cyber in this region.
Inspired by Hub8 in Cheltenham and DiSH in Manchester, we’ve created something with a Birmingham stamp on it. Hub8, delivered with Plexal, showed us the power of convening local innovators alongside GCHQ. DiSH, built with Barclays Eagle Labs in Manchester, proved the value of bringing national strategy and regional delivery together. Our task now is to take those lessons, apply them to the Midlands, and create a model that reflects our strengths and our identity, rooted in collaboration, pride, and community.
So that’s what we set out to build. Version one of the Hub is here at Enterprise Wharf, but this is only the start. The ambition is regional: a hub-and-spoke model that reaches across Wolverhampton, Coventry, Worcester and beyond, and maybe even a rotational or portable model that can take the Hub out to different places. Alongside the physical presence, we want to grow a digital brand and platform that amplifies the West Midlands’ voice nationally and internationally.
The aims of the Hub are written into the contract, and they’re simple but powerful:
- To engender and grow the cyber community, providing a home for it to belong.
- To connect students and employers, giving them a safe space to meet, learn, and hopefully boost the number of graduates moving into full-time cyber careers.
- To bring innovative startups and big companies together, fuelling collaboration and strengthening the region’s innovation agenda.
That’s the foundation. This is V1, and it’s the start of something bigger. And crucially, we want this to be a place where the innovation economy lives and breathes. That means supporting spin-outs from universities, giving startups the confidence to grow, and helping scale-ups find partners and markets. Cyber isn’t just about resilience; it’s about innovation, and we want the Hub to be a launchpad for both.
Speeches from DSIT – Regional Growth And Strategy
The regional DSIT team of Daljinder Mattu and Gwilym WIlliams spoke next. Dalspoke about regional initiatives, calling out the path that Cyber had in the region from launching the five pillars cyber strategy in 2022 in Birmingham, and the collaborators and innovators in Cyber from the region: CyberQ Group, CyberCy, MetCloud, Goldilock, LexVerify, the School of Coding and AI, Black Space Technologies, and the bigger players who helped along the way, SCC, Intercity, KPMG, Mills & Reeves, Trowers & Hamlins, and Gowling WLG (who have supported our journey by hosting the WM CWG events), along with many others helping make the Midlands cyber economy thrive. Gwilym followed with a strategic view, introducing and setting our hub in the context of the new DSIT Growth Action Plan. Hearing their support meant a lot, especially when, later, they excitedly told me they’d already met three new startups at the event. That’s exactly why this matters.
The Panel
We then ran a panel session, which I chaired alongside the absolutely brilliant Rebecca Robinson (co-chair, project manager, and generally unstoppable force of nature). On stage, we had:
- Andy Hague, Tech West Midlands
- Michelle Ohren, West Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre
- Ryan Protheroe, Midlands Cyber
- Prof. Vladlina Benson, Aston University (and fresh from winning a National Cyber Award 2025!)
- Cliff Dennett, Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands
Together, these people have helped shape the journey towards the hub.
Panel Questions and Answers
- Why does the West Midlands need a cyber hub?
The consensus: community, collaboration, and creating a focal point for cyber in the region. Andy (a proud Mancunian) noted how spaces like Hub8 or DiSH bring something special — and we want that here too. - What benefits can the hub bring?
Everyone pointed to connecting students with employers, startups with big companies, and research with practice. In short: an engine of innovation. - How can we support SMEs and innovators?
Simple: give them a place to meet, collaborate, and belong. Cliff spoke about our new, post-COVID world, where physical spaces matter more than ever. - What does success look like?
Andy Hague nailed it: “Still being here in 12 months, in 2 years, in 3 years.” Sustainability is the baseline. Beyond that, success means becoming as meaningful as Hub8 (Cheltenham) and DiSH (Manchester) — rooted in our community, supported by government and industry, and growing stronger every year. - Diversity and inclusion?
Michelle gave a brilliant reflection on Birmingham’s collectivism and diversity: the youngest city in Europe, one of the most diverse, and home to an industry (cyber) with the highest rates of neurodiversity. Our hub has to reflect that openness. - What role should the hub play in awareness and skills?
Vladlina and Ryan spoke powerfully about academia meeting industry, about shining a spotlight on innovation, and about creating a space where new ideas can thrive.
Key Panel Takeaways
Three key points I wanted to call out from the panel:
First: Government Presence
Hub8 is supported by its proximity to GCHQ and NCSC, DiSH is supported by its ties to NCSC and the National Cyber Force. Those hubs thrive because of a government anchor. I’d love to see the same here, whether that’s IASME down in Malvern, or ideally the police. Thanks to Michelle and the team at ROCU (the Regional Organised Crime Unit), we’ve already got some good links. But real sustainability comes when government departments, law enforcement, or national bodies are part of the mix. That’s what we’ll be pushing for.
Second: Richness and Diversity
The West Midlands has it all: the youngest city in Europe, one of the most diverse populations in the country, and an industry, cyber, with the highest levels of neurodiversity. We are not exclusionary in any shape or form. Age, race, background, gender, none of that matters. What matters is that we look out for each other and build together. And I even joked on stage: “You shouldn’t worry about my autism… I don’t”. which received a round of applause. The point is, inclusivity isn’t just a policy here; it’s in our bones.
Third: Strategy Alignment
With the new DSIT Cyber Growth Action Plan, there’s now a real opportunity for this hub to act as an exemplar, to take the theory of national strategy and turn it into something tangible. We can be the living proof point, the working model that shows how community, innovation, skills, and investment all come together in practice. In other words, not just a document on a shelf, but strategy made real. We can be the delivery vehicle, the substantiation of policy and strategy, made visible and practical in the region, showing what a Midlands model can contribute.
Fourth: Innovation & Growth
The Hub mustn’t just be a gathering space; it has to help power the region’s innovation economy. That means supporting spin-outs from universities, creating room for new startups to take root, and helping scale-ups connect with larger companies and markets. If we succeed, the Hub won’t just host the community, it will help create the next wave of cyber companies and jobs here in the West Midlands. I’m hoping some of our early meetings can be pitch events, where the next generation of Cyber companies can shine.
Runaround Now!
Rebecca then led an interactive session (part Runaround, part brainstorming) where attendees answered questions like: What should a cyber hub focus on? What would success look like? Post-it notes flew, priorities were ranked, and we walked away with an incredible dataset of community ideas. I’ve honestly never seen Rebecca so on fire, absolutely unstoppable all day, and the hub owes a huge debt to her. She’s now collating all of that into a roadmap. This was actually the core element of the pre-launch consultation!
I couldn’t resist comparing it to the 70s/80s kids’ TV show ‘Runaround’, shouting ‘Runaround now!’, probably showed my age, but it was a fun way of saying we were keeping it lively.
The Community Turnout
Honestly, the biggest win of the day was the sheer breadth of people:
- Universities: Aston, Warwick, BCU, and Wolverhampton all represented.
- Industry: Fortinet, Gowling WLG, Trowers & Hamlins, Cambridge University, WMCA, ROCU, InterCity, and many more.
- Supporters: Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands, Sustainability West Midlands, Bruntwood SciTech, Midlands Cyber, Hub8, CyNam, Eagle Labs… the list goes on.
I also want to give a few personal shout-outs: Charlotte Smith from CyNam, who’s been a constant supporter; Paul Maddox from Fortinet, an absolute pleasure to meet him; and of course our friends at ROCU (the Regional Organised Crime Unit), who’ve been hugely encouraging. Having them all in the room really meant a lot.
It wasn’t just “Cyber Tzar” or “Aston” or “WMCRC”, it was the whole community together. That’s exactly what we all wanted: to be a catalyst for our wonderful cyber community. I must have given two or three tours of the building myself, dragging people out onto the veranda, because it’s just stunning and I couldn’t resist showing it off. We already have three organisations planning on locating to the Hub! AMAZING!
Thanks (and there are many)
Special thanks to:
- Gosia Dzierdzikowska (Aston University). Honestly, I don’t think the bid would have landed without her early support. Gosia laid the foundations and helped me shape it into a format that worked. The success we’ve had really owes a lot to her help.
- Andy Horkan (my son, CEO of Cyber Tzar, with the business now in full-on scale-up mode)
- Hannah Hall (our new office manager)
- Rebecca Robinson (project manager, co-chair, star of the day)
- Maham Naqvi (our intern, who jumped right in)
- Ros Povilionis (Sustainability West Midlands, always brilliant)
- Kasey Mortensen (Optimized Pixels), our photographer, captured the day perfectly.
I mustn’t forget to thank the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands; the VIT leads and customer managers were out in force, and their support over the years has been invaluable. The whole facilities team at Bruntwood SciTech, led by Jas, who went above and beyond to make Enterprise Wharf shine for the pre-launch, and Mo and Molly organising the space itself. To everyone who showed up, shared ideas, and believed in the hub: thank you!
What really struck me was how many people came up afterwards just to say thank you, and how much they loved the space. Everyone seemed genuinely excited. A few were so taken with the building that they even went and tried out the gym. I’ve started calling it the ‘Cyber Gym’, why not?!
And I’ll confess, I’m resisting the temptation to print a t-shirt that says: ‘It’s not just a clubhouse for nerds.’ I think that’s hilarious. Not sure if anyone else does, but it proper cracks me up.
Closing Thoughts
This region has always been a place where ideas turn into reality. The West Midlands was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, and the Lunar Society met here to turn science into applied value, knowledge into products, and discovery into prosperity for all. That same spirit of invention and collaboration runs through the Cyber Hub: not just talking about the future, but building it together.
If we get this right, the Hub becomes more than a gathering space. It becomes a driver of the region’s innovation economy: a place where new companies are born, where spin-outs thrive, and where the Midlands plays its full part in the UK’s cyber growth story.
At the end, I said this: the Hub is an acorn. If we nurture it together, it can grow into a sapling, a young tree, and one day a mighty oak.
That’s the journey Hub8 and DiSH are on. That’s the journey we want not just for Birmingham, but for the whole West Midlands, a community of communities, bound by a shared sense of resilience and innovation.
This pre-launch proved that the will, the talent, and the community are already here. Now, together, we just have to keep building. And we need to be bold: this space isn’t just about belonging, it’s about creating; a launchpad for the next Cyber Tzar, the next LexVerify, the next Goldilock.
This is not just my Hub or Aston’s Hub, it’s ours. A regional space. A community platform. A launchpad for the next wave of cyber innovation in the West Midlands.
Watch this space. The West Midlands Cyber Hub is only just getting started.