Member Article

Gov commits £50m to startups in ‘groundbreaking’ cyber security innovation programme

Innovative UK tech startups could soon find themselves on the frontline of global cyber warfare after the government announced a new £50m initiative aimed at nurturing the next generation of cyber security systems.

Plans for the programme, which is being run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and GCHQ, include two new accelerators run by accelerator network Wayra UK that will attempt to fast-track and commercialise products from participating startups.

Most alluringly for the young tech firms, startups will also benefit from access to personnel and technological expertise from GCHQ, which is the government’s signals intelligence service, to help them ‘outpace’ current and emerging threats.

Minister of State for Digital and Culture Matt Hancock said that the plans, which form a part of the government’s £1.9bn National Cyber Security Programme, show that Whitehall is committed to an ‘ambitious’ programme of innovation to stay on top of cyber threats.

He commented: “We are making progress in our ambitious programme to support innovation in cyber security, grow the UK’s thriving sector and protect Britain from cyber attacks and threats.

“Our two new Cyber Innovation Centres will bring together government, academic and business expertise, and will be invaluable in helping support start-up companies and develop world-class cyber technology.”

The DCMS has committed £50m over the next five years to help deliver both innovation centres, beginning with the Cheltenham Innovation Centre, which will open later this year while the second, which will be based in London, is set to to open in 2017

Chris Ensor, Deputy Director for Cyber Skills and Growth, GCHQ believes that the combination of GCHQ’s experience with ‘creative entrepreneurs’ and startups will be a major boon to the UK’s cyber security capabilities.

He added: “Combining the knowledge and experience of GCHQ staff with some of the country’s newest start-ups and most creative entrepreneurs is really powerful combination and one I’m confident will deliver benefits to the cyber security of the UK.

“Cyber security is a team sport and as threats become more prolific and more complex, we should be sharing our experiences and views because there’s so much we can learn from each other.”

The announcement could not be more timely, coming on the day that US internet giant Yahoo confirmed that over 500m user accounts had been compromised following what it describes as a ‘state-sponsored’ hack in 2014, making it the largest publicly disclosed breach in history.

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