National Cyber Security Coordination and Development Centre
About the NCC-IE
In 2023, the National Cybersecurity Coordination and Development Centre, Ireland (NCC-IE) was established within NCSC. It plays a vital role in establishing Ireland’s Competence Network and facilitating engagement with the European Competence Network and access to the EU funding programmes for Cybersecurity. The role of the NCC-IE is to support the mission of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy and to support the development of its technology and industrial Cybersecurity capacities and knowledge.
The NCC-IE acts as the national point of contact for the national cybersecurity ecosystem. Our goals include establishing and nurturing a Cybersecurity community at a national level and providing the community with the access to a wider EU Cybersecurity network, consisting of other state NCC’s, the ECCC, and other Cybersecurity entities at national and EU level.
To achieve this, the NCC-IE is creating community-led collaboration channels. The purpose of this is to assist relevant organisations through raising awareness of national and the EU funding supports and providing them with opportunities to network and collaborate at national and EU level. This community will be hosted on an external platform managed by the NCC-IE. This community will serve as a national registry of Cybersecurity experts. Successful applicants will also be eligible to join the ECCC Atlas community. This EU community will be a trusted network of EU Cybersecurity experts. More information on the Atlas community is available here: https://cybersecurity-atlas.ec.europa.eu/
Benefits of joining both the national and EU community include
- Quicker access to information such as: Cybersecurity policy, funding opportunities, best practices and current focus of the EU community in relation to Cybersecurity.
- Enhanced visibility on projects and technologies being pursued across Europe as well as reported market trends.
- Access to a trusted network of Cybersecurity experts allowing for cross boarder collaboration on EU projects.
- Opportunities to actively participate in the tasks of the Community and in its working groups thus contributing to the work of the NCC-IE and ECCC in relation to issues impacting the EU Cybersecurity ecosystem, such as strategic agenda, work programs and future funding being offered by the ECCC.
- Access to knowledge-sharing events, webinars, guidance, and meetings.
Currently the NCC-IE is reviewing applications to entry to join the national register and the community platform from organisations across third level, research and government institutions. It is envisaged that the next phase will open the registration to organisations from private sector. More information on this will be published on this page as it becomes available.
If you are interested in joining the community, you can apply for membership by completing the registration form available below. You must register on behalf of an organisation and this organisation must be owned and controlled in Ireland to be a member of the Irish community. Organisations must also undergo a review by the NCC-IE for eligibility. Further information is available in the web form.
The NCC-IE Community Membership registration form – Fill out form
The NCC-IE Community Engagement
The NCC-IE Project - Cyber Ireland
Since its founding NCC-IE has been working with Cyber Ireland to boost community development. Together we have been assisting entities by improving their Cybersecurity resilience, supporting the uptake of Cybersecurity grants by Irish SMEs, identifying opportunities to support Irish Cybersecurity companies, address market demand and disseminating information on the NCC-IE project and its activities. All with the goal to aid the Cybersecurity community in Ireland.
More information on this can be found here: https://cyberireland.ie/ncc-ie-project
SME grant Scheme
The NCC-IE Cybersecurity Improvement Grant offered financial support to Irish SMEs that had received a Cybersecurity Report as a result of carrying out the Enterprise Ireland Cybersecurity Review. The funding secured by the NCSC for the NCC-IE project, under the EU Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), included the provision of up to €2M in grants funding for SMEs and provided the basis for the grant scheme.
More information on this can be found here: https://www.ncsc.gov.ie/ncc-ie/grants_for_SMEs/
About the European Cyber Security Competence Centre (ECCC)
The establishment of the European Cyber Security Competence Centre and the Network of National Coordination Centres (Regulation (EU) 2021/887) provides a framework to support innovation and industrial policy in Cybersecurity. The Competence Centre plays a leading role in supporting the development of the European Cybersecurity industry, including through the disbursement of EU funds for Cybersecurity from the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes. These funds support enterprise development, research and development, as well as investment in national capacity building and cyber resilience. The NCC Network brings together stakeholders from the industry and research communities to foster collaboration and information exchange.
Funding Opportunities
The ECCC is responsible for the implementation of the Cybersecurity elements of the EU financing programmes Digital Europe (DEP) and Horizon Europe and is supported by the NCCs in the promotion of these opportunities at national level. Participation in the related calls for projects is open to all the eligible entities for which the specific call conditions apply.
The European Commission have published a new series of calls for proposals under the Digital Europe Programme (DEP).
The Cybersecurity Calls encompass six distinct topics, ranging from application of enabling technologies and AI for Security Operation Centres (SOCs) to compliance with the Cyber Resilience Act.
Please contact ncc-ncsc@ncsc.gov.ie if you have any further queries.
