InterTradeIreland has supported research which represents a collaboration between the Cork Institute of Technology and NI Cyber who partnered to apply V-LINC to the cyber security specialisation in Northern Ireland.
NI is home to a number of international companies, world renowned university research and innovative start-ups delivering global cyber security solutions. The cyber security sector employs almost 1,700 people and is on course to generate over £70 million in salaries each year, with over 75 companies operating in Northern Ireland.
In the report, V-LINC, a methodology which identifies, records and analyses the linkages that firms in clusters engage in, was applied to the NI Cyber Cluster in Northern Ireland. It provides visual information on the geographic footprint of cluster ecosystems and measures the business impact of cluster linkages. As the Northern Ireland cyber security sector develops and expands it is important that industry players, business support organisations and policy makers understand how the ecosystem operates both within Northern Ireland as well as its external relationships forged beyond the region, so that collaboratively, they can deliver growth and employment through supportive policy.
The paper outlines a number of recommendations to develop the NI cyber security sector. This report should be read in conjunction with the Mapping the Cyber Island report which considers both cyber security ecosystems in Ireland and Northern Ireland and makes recommendations for all island collaboration.
