NCC-IE Cyber Community Project

The NCC-IE Community Engagement and Animation Project (NCC-IE Cyber Community) was delivered in 2025 by Cyber Ireland to support the National Cybersecurity Coordination and Development Centre (NCC-IE) with community building and industrial development activities. It leveraged Cyber Ireland’s existing activities and network to raise the profile and impact of the NCC-IE project to the cybersecurity community in Ireland. 

As part of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), the NCC-IE was established in 2023 to create a strong cybersecurity community in Ireland, support innovation and industrial policy in cybersecurity, coordinate investment and pooling resources, and reinforcing the EU’s open strategic autonomy.

Further information:

NCC-IE : https://www.ncsc.gov.ie/ncc-ie/

ECCC: https://cybersecurity-centre.europa.eu/

 

Project Objectives

The NCC-IE Cyber Community project commenced in 2025 and aimed to support the following objectives:

  • Community Development: Engaging “entities to participate in cross border activities as part of the Union Cybersecurity Community, increasing societal cybersecurity resilience and improving international cooperation”.
  • Improved Cybersecurity: Supporting the uptake of cybersecurity grants by Irish SMEs to improve their cybersecurity.
  • Industrial Development: Identifying opportunities to support Irish cybersecurity companies and address market challenges. 
  • Dissemination: Disseminate the NCC-IE project, activities and Cyber Ireland’s tasks to the cybersecurity community in Ireland and Cyber Ireland members. 

Project Deliverables

Over the course of the project, Cyber Ireland worked with the NCC-IE to deliver the following outputs:

Community Building & Engagement

The project brought the Irish cybersecurity community together through a range of community building activities designed to dissemination information, share knowledge, and facilitate collaboration. Ten events were supported with over 1,000 attendees. These activities included:

  • Workshops, webinars, in-person events and dissemination of strategic publications and policy notices.

  • Enhanced visibility of community outputs such as NCSC reports, events and updates.

  • Support to Cyber Ireland’s community events, including Regional Chapters, Special Interest Groups, Women4Cyber, Industry R&D Workshop and Cyber Ireland National Conference 2025.

SME Cybersecurity Resilience

The project supported SME cybersecurity resilience with the promotion of the Enterprise Ireland Cyber Review and NCC-IE Cyber Security Improvement Grants to cybersecurity providers in Ireland, who can deliver the assessments and improvement projects.

A Cybersecurity Maturity Baseline study was conducted to identify common vulnerabilities and security practices in Irish Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), utilising the Enterprise Ireland Cyber Security Review Grant recipients as the chosen business sample and the Cyber Review reports conducted by cybersecurity consultants.

The Cybersecurity Maturity Baseline report presents the findings from an analysis of 98 anonymised cybersecurity assessment reports. The vulnerability analysis sections were correlated with the NCSC Cybersecurity for small businesses guidance to ensure alignment with recognized best practices. The report makes recommendations from the analysis to improve the delivery of cybersecurity grants and improve SMEs cyber resilience. You can download the report summary.

 

Cybersecurity Maturity Baseline Report
EU Funding Opportunities Report

Securing EU R&D Funding

The European Union (EU) provides a wide range of funding opportunities for research and innovation, that can significantly support technological development and commercial growth in cybersecurity. However, navigating these programmes can be challenging. Securing funding successfully requires a strong understanding of the EU funding landscape and detailed knowledge of the application processes for each programme.

The project delivered targeted EU funding awareness and capacity-building support, helping Irish organisations engage with EU programmes through:

  • A needs Assessment of cybersecurity organisations in Ireland.

  • Establishing an EU Funding Working Group

  • Delivering Information and Capacity Building Webinars.

  • A guidebook on Securing EU Funding Opportunities in Cybersecurity.

  • Dissemination of EU Funding Calls

For further information see the EU Funding Working Group.

EU Cybersecurity Market Opportunities

European Union (EU) cybersecurity regulations such as NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act, DORA, among others are driving demand for cybersecurity solutions across the EU, potentially generating an additional €10 billion per year in demand—equivalent to nearly 20% of the current market size.

The project investigated the EU Cybersecurity Market Opportunity and Ireland’s current capability to meet demand, while also identifying barriers to growth. A mapping of cybersecurity solutions offered by exportfocused, Irish-owned cybersecurity companies was conducted to understand where strengths and gaps exist in relation to the provision of cybersecurity solutions, assessing capability of solution delivery using company size, and an analysis of adoption of cybersecurity certifications.

Over 50 Irish cybersecurity companies were analysed, identifying strengths in high demand domains such as Data Security & Privacy, Security Management & Governance, and Incident Handling & Digital Forensics. However, some solution domains show limited or no representation from Irish companies, signalling capability gaps where targeted support or strategic initiatives could help strengthen the ecosystem. The report provides recommendations on the opportunities and challenges to be addressed.

For further information see the EU Cybersecurity Market Opportunities Summary Report.

Project Highlights

health
Cybersecurity for Health Conference (July)
CINC25
Cyber Ireland National Conference (October)
dublin iisf
Dublin Chapter Event (November)
NCSC Conference 2025
NCSC Conference 2025 (December)
Cyber Research Conference, Industry R&D Workshop
Industry R&D Workshop (December)
NCC-PT_and_NCC-IE-Joint_Webinar (1)
NCC-IE & NCC PT Webinar (December)

NCC Partners with Research Ireland

NCC-IE is partnered with Research Ireland and looking for public service fellowship applicants. The Research Ireland Public Service Fellowship is an initiative that provides researchers with the opportunity to be temporarily seconded to Government Departments and Agencies (Host Organisations) to undertake defined projects in which their expertise can contribute significant value, generating outcomes that are beneficial to both the researcher and the host.

More Details

Accomplishments of the NCC Grant

2 national conferences

Grants: 53 applications were approved. Of those 53 approved applications, 3 were subsequently withdrawn by applicants. Ultimately, 50 organisations received funding from the NCSC, with total awards amounting to €1,743,513.22 – More Details

Community Platform and National Register have been launched – More Details

This project was supported by the NCC-IE project, funded by the Government of Ireland and European Commission. 

This project is co-funded by the European Union under the Digital Europe Programme, Project: 101127902 — NCC-IE — DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03.