The National Coordination Centre should carry out, depending on their decision, one or more of the following tasks:

• Acting as contact points at the national level for the Cybersecurity Competence Community to support the ECCC in achieving its objectives and missions.
• Providing expertise and actively contributing to the strategic tasks of the ECCC, taking into account relevant national and regional challenges for cybersecurity in different sectors and deliver tasks supporting the implementation of the Cyber skills Academy.
• Promoting, encouraging and facilitating the participation of civil society and industry, in particular start-ups and SMEs, academic and research communities and other actors at Member State level in cross-border projects and cybersecurity actions funded through all relevant Union programmes.
• Providing technical assistance to stakeholders by supporting stakeholders in their application phase for projects managed by the ECCC, and in full compliance with the rules of sound financial management, especially on conflicts of interests. This should be done in close coordination with the relevant NCPs set up by the Member States.
• Seeking to establish synergies with relevant activities at national, regional and local levels, such as addressing cybersecurity in national policies on research, development and innovation in the area of those policies stated in the national cybersecurity strategies. Where relevant, implementing specific actions for which grants have been awarded by the ECCC, including through the provision of financial support to third parties in accordance with Article 204 of the Financial Regulation under the conditions specified in the grant agreements concerned, in particular aimed at strengthening the uptake and dissemination of state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions (notably by SMEs).
• Supporting the scaling-up of start-ups by finding other funding to implement existing projects.
• Promoting and disseminating the relevant outcomes of the work of the Network and the ECCC at national, regional or local level.
• assessing requests for becoming part of the Cybersecurity Competence Community by entities established in the same Member State as the NCC.
• advocating and promoting involvement by relevant entities in the activities arising from the ECCC, the Network of National Coordination Centres, and the Cybersecurity Competence Community, and monitoring, as appropriate, the level of engagement with actions awarded for cybersecurity research, developments and deployments.
• Supporting the Cybersecurity Competence Community registration (on platforms such as ATLAS) and contributing to the development of suitable community management tools.

In addition, this action aims to promote safer digital behaviours, grow talents and attract more youth to cybersecurity careers; the NCCs could also, depending on their national context, carry out one or more of the following tasks:

• Provide support to innovative ideas towards market-readiness.
• Promote cybersecurity awareness, best practices, and careers in schools, universities, and community events (for instance by launching a pan-European programme where young individuals will be trained as ambassadors to promote cybersecurity.)
• Strengthen collaboration between institutions for higher education, e.g. by jointly organising events, by teaching students and working together on cutting-edge research. Support activities in primary and secondary levels of education to increase cybersecurity awareness and hygiene, through educating the teachers and educators.
• Build stronger partnerships with established SMEs, tech companies, and government agencies to develop and distribute software tools and services that assist in early threat detection, actor identification, and threat evolution monitoring. These collaborations can ensure that cybersecurity professionals have access to the latest tools and technologies for effective threat management.
• In collaboration with other entities, as needed, organise periodic cybersecurity boot camps, challenges, awareness campaigns and training courses across Europe, specifically for SMEs or students (e.g. focusing on equipping participants with hands on skills to manage prevalent cyber threats through training sessions, workshops, and simulation activities tailored to their industry). Organise periodic awareness raising campaigns, at national and regional level, to increase cybersecurity awareness and hygiene aimed at different demographics. Organise national and regional cyber exercises to enhance the security and resilience of critical sectors as well as SMEs.
• Foster a community of cybersecurity professionals who can share their experiences, challenges, and solutions.
• Support and encourage the uptake of cybersecurity educational policy goals in national (cybersecurity) strategies.
• Promote safer digital behaviours and more youth considering cybersecurity careers.

The action could also aim to:

• Support the adoption of market-ready innovative cybersecurity solutions, including solutions developed in the framework of EU-supported research and innovation projects.
• Provide and deploy up to date tools and services to organisations (in particular SMEs) to prepare, protect (e.g. network security, advanced two-factor or passwordless authentication) and respond to cybersecurity threats.

This topic targets exclusively National Coordination Centres which have been recognised by the Commission as having the capacity to manage funds to achieve the mission and objectives laid down in the Regulation establishing the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre and the Network of National Coordination Centres.

These actions aim at the operation of National Coordination Centres, which occupy a central role in the cybersecurity landscape as foreseen in Regulation (EU) 2021/887.

Due to the synergetic role they play with regard to the activities at national, regional and local levels, such as addressing cybersecurity in national policies on research, development and innovation in the area of those policies stated in the national cybersecurity strategies, they must be able to handle sensitive information, and be protected against possible dependencies and vulnerabilities in cybersecurity to pre-empt undue foreign influence and control.