Last week we welcomed the latest cohort of the NCSC Cyber Accelerator to a ‘Demo Day’ at Lancaster House, London to mark the end of their time in the Accelerator.
The NCSC Cyber Accelerator is a collaboration between the NCSC, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), GCHQ and Wayra UK. It’s designed to nurture innovation within the cyber security sector by accelerating start-ups who have original ideas which help the NCSC solve technical challenges. The accelerator does this by helping organisations to secure investment, and by providing the expertise they need to take their products to the next level.
Matt Hancock MP on why start-ups should consider the NCSC Cyber Accelerator
Over the past nine months, the Cyber Accelerator and cohort have had tremendous success, so the Demo Day at Lancaster House gave us an opportunity to celebrate those achievements. An invited audience – which included NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin – listened to keynote speeches from Steve Blank (the ‘godfather of Silicon Valley’ start-up culture) and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Matt Hancock.
CEO Ciaran Martin on the benefits of the NCSC Cyber Accelerator
As well as celebrating the achievements of this year’s cohort (which included a service to solve the problem of age verification and parental consent for young people in online transactions, and a service to connect IoT devices with end-to-end authenticated, encrypted security), we also opened the door for our next cohort. So if you’re a start-up organisation in need of technical validation, or you need help turning your ideas into reality, we want to hear from you.
Firms selected to take part in the Cyber Accelerator will have access to world-class personnel and technical expertise at the NCSC and GCHQ, as well as the Telefónica global business network. They will also receive £25,000 in funding, high-quality mentoring and office space. But, most importantly, they’ll have the opportunity to make a difference within the cyber security industry and to develop the next generation of cyber security systems.
If you think that your company meets the challenges of what the NCSC Cyber Accelerator is trying to achieve then please register your interest.
Gill H
Communications and Engagement, NCSC Cyber Accelerator
Source: National Cyber Security Centre
