Hydra Horizon® & Partners Pledges €305,000 to Aevena International Polytechnic College to Establish Applied Cyber-Physical Security Lab

Hydra Horizon® & Partners, a private investment firm built by operators and engineers, today announced a €305,000 strategic grant to the Aevena International Polytechnic College, based in the Netherlands. This grant will fund the establishment of a new, state-of-the-art “Applied Cyber-Physical Security Lab” and a specialized curriculum for next-generation Operational Technology (OT) defenders.

This initiative, based in our home country of the Netherlands, is a direct, tactical investment in our core “Infrastructure Trilemma” thesis.

As a firm, we deploy capital into the essential, interconnected systems of the new economy: Artificial Intelligence, the Renewable Energy Transition, and Data Security. We understand, as builders, that this transition is not just digital; it is profoundly physical.

The new economy is being built on a foundation of “cyber-physical systems”—AI-driven data centers, smart power grids, and automated industrial controls. In these systems, a digital command has a direct, real-world physical consequence. An attack on this infrastructure is not just a data breach; it is a critical threat to public safety and economic stability.

This creates an urgent and highly-specialized talent gap. The skills required to secure an IT network (like an office email server) are fundamentally different from those needed to secure an OT network (like a power grid’s control system). We are facing a critical, global shortage of “hands-on” engineers and technicians who understand how to defend this new class of physical-digital infrastructure.

This is precisely why we have partnered with the Aevena International Polytechnic College. As one of the Netherlands’ premier institutions for applied science and “skills-first” engineering, Aevena is uniquely positioned to build this essential workforce. Its polytechnic model, which prioritizes practical competency and real-world problem-solving, is the ideal environment to train the “OT Defenders” of the future.

Our €305,000 grant will be deployed with precision to:

1. Fund the “Applied Cyber-Physical Security Lab”: This will be a high-fidelity “sandbox” where students can train on real-world industrial control systems (ICS) and SCADA hardware, simulating and defending against sophisticated attacks on model infrastructure.
2. Develop a Specialized OT Security Curriculum: The funding will support the creation of a new, accredited program focused on the unique challenges of securing cyber-physical systems, including hardware-level vulnerability, secure network design for critical infrastructure, and incident response.
3. Establish an Operator-in-Residence Program: The grant will bring in seasoned cybersecurity and infrastructure operators—including experts from Hydra Horizon®’s own operational network—to mentor students and ensure the curriculum is perfectly aligned with the real-world, tactical needs of the industry.

This is not a philanthropic donation. This is a strategic, long-term investment in our own ecosystem. The critical energy and data infrastructure companies within our portfolio are dependent on the very talent this program will create. By investing in the Aevena International Polytechnic College, we are helping to build the “human infrastructure” supply chain required to secure our most essential assets. We are proud to partner with a leading Dutch institution to build this critical capability on our home ground.