03 Oct 2022

SME Member of the Week: Awen Collective

This week's SME Member of the Week is Awen Collective.

Awen Collective is the first of October's SME Member of Week. This month, techUK are highlighting the contributions made by members to improve the local and regional tech scene, playing a vital role in the levelling up agenda through innovation and engagement. 


Awen Collective is a cyber security software solutions company started in 2017 by Daniel Lewis, who was previously a Senior Research Fellow in cyber security and digital forensics. Awen are based in Caerphilly in Wales, and have a presence in The Netherlands, but work across the UK, EU and internationally. The Awen Collective mission is to make society safer by increasing the cyber resilience of our critical national infrastructures and manufacturers. 

Awen was founded in Wales, remains headquartered in Wales, and will be in Wales for the foreseeable future. There are many reasons for this dedication to Wales.

Cooperation and collaboration are a key part of Welsh culture. There is an inherent sharing economy with warmth and empathy - we genuinely want each other to do well! This leads to us helping each other where we can.  

The tech ecosystem in Wales, especially within cyber security, is equally rich and diverse. We actively engage with the CyberWales ecosystem including running our own sub-cluster for industrial sectors called the OT Cluster. CyberWales is one of the strongest cyber security cluster/ecosystems in Europe made up of a range of companies from small consultancy firms to large enterprises.  

The Welsh universities are also particularly strong in many areas of tech, including cyber security and Industry 4.0, which has developed an innovative tech ecosystem and continued R&D. Awen has benefitted from working closely with our local universities, especially Cardiff University and the University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD), from developing our skilled workforce with graduates and placement students, to discovering the opportunities for academic-industrial R&D. 

We are also fortunate that the Welsh manufacturing and private defence sectors, key markets for us, have also been traditionally very strong and offer great opportunities for tech companies developing technologies within these sectors. And it’s a real positive that we get the support to grow locally and internationally from the Welsh Government and public sectors. Our police forces for example are pioneers in cyber security.  

Wales is just a brilliant place to live and work - the hills and valleys, the beaches, the villages, towns and cities have their beauty and uniqueness. 

Recent success 

In July 2022 Awen officially launched a commercial and collaborative partnership with Siemens to provide financially feasible cyber security solutions to Industrial SMEs across the UK and beyond. In early 2022 Awen closed it's 4th round of investment, being led by TIIN Capital.  

Future Plans 

Awen will continue to be based in Wales for the foreseeable future, it's a great place to live and work. However, Awen have international expansion plans - and have a subsidiary in The Hague. Awen will continue to expand and develop products particularly for international markets. Awen are taking on some noisy competition, and are winning!  

Company background  

Awen Collective was founded in 2017. Our mission is to make society safer by reducing the risk of cyber attacks on the services that we rely on daily (e.g. critical national infrastructure sectors such as energy, water and transport; and manufacturing and smart cities.   

Awen's software is focused on pre-incident risk, and can also assist with post-incident response and recovery. Awen is sector agnostic, being just as applicable in energy, as it is in automotive manufacturing, medical technology and smart cities. Awen also has internationalised solutions for the very global problem of rising industrial cyber attacks.  

More information 

Visit the Awen website: https://www.awencollective.com/ 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/awencollective/  

 


SME Member of the Week: November, Sustainability

For November's SME Member of the Week, we’ll be focusing on sustainability, with the COP27 summit due to take place throughout the month. We're looking for SMEs who have made an impact on the transition to net zero, either through developing technology to combat the climate crisis or showcasing what they've done to reduce their own carbon emissions. Submit your case study here.

 


techUK – Building Stronger Local Economies

techUK champions the tech sector throughout the UK. We work with local authorities, devolved government, and local and national policy makers to advocate for the tech sector in strengthening economic growth and resilience. We provide opportunities for our members and local stakeholders to meet, build relationships, and collaborate to drive forward local projects. For more information or to get in touch, please visit our Nations and Regions Hub and click 'contact us'. 

 

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