Collaboration Opportunities
Within the North West Cyber Corridor, support frameworks are in place to fuel growth and innovation. Whether you’re a startup seeking investment or a business looking to scale, our region offers connections, resources and expertise.
NW CyberCom is a £1.2 million initiative led by Lancaster University to unlock the North West’s cybersecurity potential. Bringing together six partner universities, the project connects cutting-edge research with entrepreneurs, investors, government, and industry to turn innovation into real-world products, services, and policies that strengthen UK resilience.
Funded by Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund (CCF), NW CyberCom is supported by Plexal, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and CRSI.
The North West’s cyber landscape is entering a pivotal moment, with GCHQ’s arrival in Manchester and the National Cyber Force (NCF) based in Lancashire creating an unprecedented opportunity to harness the socio-economic potential of a high-growth, innovative sector central to the UK’s national security and resilience.
The CyberFocus project drives this transformation by ensuring the region fully realises the benefits of strategic government investment in cyber. Through collaboration between universities, civic bodies, and industry partners, CyberFocus is uniting the region around a shared vision - to galvanise the North West’s cyber ecosystem through trusted, research-led partnerships that strengthen national prosperity and protection.
CDI is a consortium of universities, further education colleges, and industry partners working together to help businesses across the North West harness digital skills.
Led by Manchester Metropolitan University, with partners Lancaster University, The University of Manchester, and The University of Salford, CDI equips forward-thinking businesses with the tools and expertise to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The initiative focuses on four key areas of innovation: artificial intelligence, cyber security, industrial digitalisation, and immersive technology.
Innovate Lancashire is Lancashire County Council’s innovation investment programme. It enables innovative businesses to grow; facilitates new industry collaborations and commercial partnerships; promotes the county’s world-class R&D and Knowledge Transfer capabilities; helps to boost tech skills and increase digital expertise; and showcases Lancashire’s high value, high growth innovation ecosystem.
In addition to its own events, collabs and business engagement initiatives, Innovate Lancashire funds the Lancashire Digital Hub B2B programme and the Fraser House co-working space in Lancaster. It also developed the fhunded venture capital scheme, putting Lancashire firmly on the early-stage tech investment map.