Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre

What Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre does

Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre (WB3C) is an intergovernmental regional organization established by the governments of France and Slovenia in partnership with Montenegro, headquartered at the Science and Technology Park in Podgorica. It became an international organization on 10 March 2026 under a trilateral Headquarters Agreement, the first such body based in Podgorica, and is governed by a Board with appointed representatives from each founding state. WB3C delivers cybersecurity capacity-building services exclusively to public administration officials in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia), with candidate selection routed through national coordinators in each country.

Its core products are classroom-based, in-person training programmes organised across three pillars: Cyber Crime (cryptocurrency, financial investigations, online child exploitation), Cybersecurity (critical infrastructure protection, security assessments, incident response, operational technology and CII protection), and Cyber Diplomacy (international cooperation, criminal investigation, policy development). The portfolio includes a 60-ECTS one-year diploma with the University of Technology of Troyes, a 15-month Digital Forensics programme with UTT, a Cyber Hygiene train-the-trainer cascade with ReSPA, an OT and infrastructure-protection series co-developed with the Netherlands MoFA/NCSC, and an Artificial Intelligence Applied in Cybersecurity Quantum Programme. Delivery is supported by the WB3C Forum portal, which provides registered users with best-practice guides, threat-intelligence reports, policy templates, tool access, and alumni networking. WB3C also convenes flagship regional conferences including the Confronting Ransomware conference (December 2025) and the FIMI and Disinformation conference (May 2026), and supports a Western Balkans ministerial delegation to the Paris Cyber Summit.

The business model is non-commercial: programmes are free of charge to eligible public administration officials, and funding comes from the founding governments, Montenegro as host, and an EU three-year regional programme. There is no disclosed revenue, no pricing tiers, and no commercial ownership structure; the parent is the trilateral founding partnership of states, with EU programme funding underpinning specific workstreams.

Name

Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre

Legal name

Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre

Website

https://wb3c.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre is an intergovernmental organization, founded by France, Slovenia and Montenegro in 2023 and headquartered in Podgorica, that delivers free in-person cybersecurity, cybercrime and cyberdiplomacy training to public administration officials across the six Western Balkans countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cybersecurity Training and Capacity Building

akta.pro primary industry

Policy Management, Training & Ethics/Whistleblowing (BPAEAPAI)

Keywords

• Cybersecurity training
• Cyber capacity building
• Public sector training
• Cybercrime investigation
• Cyberdiplomacy education

Headquarters

HQ city

Podgorica

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: WB3C is established by the governments of France and Slovenia in partnership with Montenegro, indicating government funding as the primary revenue source. The organisation became an international organization in March 2026.
2. EU Programme Funding: WB3C delivers training programmes funded by the European Union, such as the 3-year EU funded programme for improving resilience of critical entities and the protection of public spaces and cyberspace.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WB3C is a regional cybersecurity capacity building centre that delivers free, in-person training programmes to public administration officials across the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia). Its portfolio is structured around three pillars—Cyber Crime, Cybersecurity, and Cyber Diplomacy—and includes diploma courses, train-the-trainer programmes, and specialised training series delivered in partnership with universities and national cybersecurity agencies.

Product overview

WB3C is a regional cybersecurity capacity building centre offering a portfolio of classroom-based training programmes across three pillars: Cyber Crime, Cybersecurity, and Cyber Diplomacy. The core products include the Cybersecurity Diploma Course with UTT (60 ECTS one-year programme), Cyber Hygiene for Civil Servants (train-the-trainer), Operational Technology and Infrastructure Protection (3-part series), and an AI/Quantum Cybersecurity Programme. Additional offerings include a 15-month Digital Forensics Programme with UTT. All training is delivered in-person, primarily in English, and operates through the WB3C Forum portal for resource access and community networking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cyber Crime Training Programme

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, supporting and potential.

• University of Technology of Troyes (UTT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUTT partners with WB3C to deliver a one-year academic diploma course worth 60 ECTS in cybersecurity. The programme may lead to a Bachelor's degree following UTT's validation of candidates' prior credits. UTT provides academic oversight, thesis guidance, and internationally recognised diplomas.
• Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Cyber Security CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Cyber Security Centre developed training series on Operational Technology, Resilient Ecosystems and Infrastructure Protection for Western Balkans administrations, enhancing cybersecurity proficiency in Critical Infrastructure and Critical Information Infrastructure protection.
• Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWB3C and ReSPA jointly deliver the Cyber Hygiene for Civil Servants programme, designed to empower senior-level public officials with knowledge and skills required to educate their peers about cyber hygiene, cascading knowledge to enhance regional cyber resilience.
• ČikomsupportingTechnology or IntegrationČikom, a Montenegrin company, cooperates with WB3C to deliver ISO/IEC 27001:2022 training, led by its CISO and SOC Manager Mladen Bukilic. Čikom provides cybersecurity expertise for the training programme.
• Science and Technology Park of MontenegromajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Science and Technology Park of Montenegro hosts WB3C headquarters and signed internship contracts to support the international internship programme, enabling international students to gain experience at WB3C.
• ITAS (IT Advanced Services)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerITAS, a Montenegrin technology company, provides internship placements and mentorship for international students, including a 3-month AI and cybersecurity internship programme coordinated through WB3C.
• EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Project 101potentialStrategic or Co-development PartnerWB3C met with EU CBRN CoE Project 101 representatives to discuss potential cooperation in strengthening critical infrastructure protection and security, exploring synergies between cybersecurity and CBRN risk mitigation.
• Paris Cyber SummitmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerWB3C participated in Paris Cyber Summit 2026, enabling Western Balkans ministerial delegation engagement. The Summit's founder Sébastien Garnault supported regional delegation participation including strategic networking and round table at French Senate and Campus Cyber.
• Atlantic Council of MontenegrosupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAtlantic Council of Montenegro supported the preparation of the Regional Conference on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and Disinformation, contributing to conference planning and execution.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA): EU-level agency tasked with raising cybersecurity resilience across member states and partner countries. Comparable as a publicly funded cyber capacity-building body, but operates at much larger EU-wide scale and serves a broader policy and operational mandate than WB3C.
• Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), OAS: OAS committee that coordinates hemispheric cybersecurity capacity building, training and policy support for member states. Comparable to WB3C in mission and delivery model but operates at the Americas-wide scale through the OAS framework.

Direct peers

• Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE): Multi-stakeholder global platform coordinating cyber capacity-building initiatives across regions and donors. Comparable to WB3C as a coordination and capacity-building hub for public-sector cyber skills, though GFCE operates globally and at a coordination level rather than as a direct training provider.
• NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE): NATO-accredited international military organisation in Tallinn focused on cyber defence training, exercises, doctrine and capacity building for government and military audiences. Highly comparable to WB3C as an international, government-funded cyber capacity-building centre, though operating at a larger scale and broader (NATO-aligned) remit.
• EU CyberNet: EU-funded network that pools EU member-state cyber expertise to deliver capacity building to partner countries, including the Western Balkans. Closest functional peer to WB3C because of the shared EU-funded, government-to-government delivery model serving overlapping target audiences.

Regional players

• Cybersecurity Capacity Centre for Southern Africa (CCCCSA): Regional capacity-building centre hosted by the University of Cape Town focused on strengthening cybersecurity skills across SADC countries. Highly comparable structural peer to WB3C as a regional hub delivering cyber capacity building for government officials, but operating in Southern Africa rather than the Western Balkans.
• African Union Mechanism for Cyber Security (AUC): African Union body coordinating continental cybersecurity policy and capacity-building activities. Comparable to WB3C as a regional, intergovernmental mechanism focused on public-sector cyber capability uplift, though operating across Africa rather than WB6.

Others

• Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST): Global association of incident response and security teams that runs conferences, trainings and best-practice dissemination for national CERTs and government responders. Comparable to WB3C in serving public-sector cyber practitioners, but operates as a member association rather than a government-embedded training provider.
• ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) Cybersecurity Programmes: United Nations specialised agency delivering global cybersecurity capacity-building, training and national strategy support to member states. Comparable in mission (public-sector cyber capacity uplift) and global scope, but is a UN-mandated body rather than a regional intergovernmental organisation.

Emerging players

• Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC), University of Oxford: Oxford-based research centre that produces the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM) and advises governments on cyber capacity. Comparable to WB3C in its focus on government-facing cyber capacity assessment, though GCSCC is research-led and advisory rather than a direct training delivery organisation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WB3C_org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/western-balkans-cyber-capacity-centre-wb3c

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre