On February 17, 2025, in the presence of Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to establish cooperation between the CR14 Foundation from Tallinn and the Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft. This partnership is an important building block for the orientation of the project office “Model Region Cybersecurity Bergisches Land” and its future work.
The cooperation will focus on joint projects to promote cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and enhance the resilience of SMEs within the Bergisches Städtedreieck region.
Estonia possesses enormous expertise in cybersecurity and is ranked, according to studies, as the third-best country worldwide in this field. A key part of this success is attributed to the “CR14, the Cyber Rangers.” This state foundation facilitates knowledge transfer between public and private stakeholders through joint research and development projects. They specialize in security audits of systems, using penetration testing to simulate and evaluate the cyber resilience of computer systems and data communication networks. The Bergisches Land region will benefit from these activities as well: such attack simulations can be conducted for local companies and critical infrastructure. Additionally, the cooperation includes plans for exchanges between Estonian and Bergisch companies, as well as informational visits of Bergisch companies to Estonia.
“The visit of Foreign Minister Tsahkna on the occasion of signing our cooperation agreement with the NATO CyberRange CR14 underscores the importance of cybersecurity also from the Estonian government’s perspective,” said Stephan A. Vogelskamp, Managing Director of the Bergische Gesellschaft and initiator of the Model Region Cybersecurity project. “We are very pleased to now have access to such a knowledge-strong partner through this international collaboration.”
Digitalization has been advancing rapidly in Estonia for over 25 years. Today, 99.6 percent of all administrative procedures are conducted digitally — from electronic voting in elections to tax services, according to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. This long journey required bringing the population along. Securing state IT infrastructure in administration and the military has also been of highest priority—especially following the massive cyberattacks on Estonian systems in the past.
Estonia is also home to the “NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE),” a multinational, interdisciplinary NATO-recognized institution dedicated to applied research and development in cyber defense. It specializes in enhancing cyber defense capabilities.
In light of the Munich Security Conference, where the Minister was a guest, he emphasized the enormous global threat landscape. Organizing cybersecurity, advancing research and development in this area is a vital future task. Bergisch companies can benefit from the insights gained through today’s agreement.
The contact with Estonian cybersecurity institutions was established during an exchange organized by NRW.Global Business, the foreign trade promotion agency of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Last summer, the information trip “Best Practice: Cybersecurity Solutions in Estonia” took place. This resulted not only in valuable input for the “Model Region Cybersecurity Bergisches Land” project but also in direct contact with Silver Andre, CEO of CR14. Together with Stephan A. Vogelskamp, the cooperation plan was developed.
For the establishment of this project, the Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft was awarded the contract by the NRW state government. Preparations for project implementation are currently underway.