A year ago, the University of Gloucestershire, along with partners, launched the Institute for Cyber Security and Digital Innovation (ICDI) in Düren, Germany.

The ICDI is a collaboration with partners from the University of Applied Sciences Fachhochschule des Mittelstands (FHM) and the Düren Landraat (District Council) in North Rhine Westphalia.

Now the university and its partners are celebrating a successful first year. As they look ahead to the next phase of partnership development, a delegation from Düren is visiting Cheltenham this week (March 23 and 24). The delegation will include civic and business leaders, as well as senior members of FHM University of Applied Sciences.

This visit provides an opportunity to further extend the collaborative partnership and to explore additional opportunities for collaboration with the cybertech sector in Gloucestershire.

As part of the visit, a celebration and partnership event is taking place at the Business School at the UoG Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester on Friday (March 24).

Invited guests will have an opportunity to meet with German ICDI partners from FHM University of Applied Sciences and Düren Landraat, to hear more about how the partnership has been established to date, and to discuss opportunities for future collaboration.

It is also an opportunity to brief colleagues on the latest cyber developments in Gloucestershire.

Speakers include Richard Yorke of CyNam, talking about the cybertech ecosystem in Gloucester and HBD X Factory and The Golden Valley Development Group giving an update on the Golden Valley project in Cheltenham.

Ove the year, the partnership has delivered a programme of digital skills bootcamps in Düren.

The University of Gloucestershire has exceeded its student enrolment targets for both the BSc (Hons) cyber security and MSc cyber security programmes. And it has built a high-quality team of academic and business professionals who support the ICDI development.

A spokesperson for the university said: "We believe this has all created strong foundations for a lasting and mutually beneficial partnership."