The City of Sierra Vista

The City of Sierra Vista, AZ has formed a partnership with the private sector- in this case, defense contractors, people with ties to adjacent Fort Huachuca and members of academia – to trade notes as they craft an economic development plan based on cybersecurity.

With the right partners, Sierra Vista can support targeted initiatives and bring the credibility and traction necessary for an appropriately scaled cybersecurity technology cluster development, says Simone McFarland, manager of economic development.

A multi-pronged approach is already underway. The new Cyber Operations program launches in the fall semester at UofA-South campus based in Sierra Vista. Students can earn their first two years at Cochise College which is also in sierra Vista.  In addition, Advanced Business Learning will begin offering certification classes in Sierra Vista, McFarland says.

Bringing in new companies and business development – Advanced Business Learning will be one of the first coming in that focuses on cybersecurity, she says. To add to the mix , the city is trying to expand its network into commercial areas. “so we’ll end up with some kind of defense cluster along with commercial cluster in the end”, she says.