The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) has launched the open call for its second cohort of cyber innovators to help solve the most pressing issues most in need of technical solutions, as identified by industry leaders earlier this month at the cyber innovation centre. LORCA is looking for applications from scaling companies with promising responses to the two biggest cybersecurity challenge areas.
The first challenge; develop solutions that make it easier for employees to keep cyber-aware and safe. Cybersecurity often fails to account for the human element of attacks and breaches, when ultimately people are at the heart of all activity, LORCA points out. Hence a need for new technologies that train employees to become cybersecurity assets, rather than risks.
The second challenge; supply chains. As these, and the data that flows through them, become increasingly complex, there’s a growing need for new technologies to help better manage the cybersecurity risk in an effective, scalable, and sustainable way.
Those accepted onto the LORCA programme will receive a year of bespoke support to engineer and iterate their solution and scale their businesses quickly – all within a dedicated space at LORCA’s base at innovation hub Plexal (based at Here East on the former London 2012 Olympics site and developed by owner Delancey’s DV4 fund). Participating companies can have one-to-one commercial and technical support from Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Service team. Academic and engineering support will be provided by the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast. Plexal will provide curate professional service providers and convene a wider community of interest to drive up solutions from sector verticals.
Applications from across the UK and beyond are welcome, by Friday, November 2. Organisations will need to be revenue generating, be UK registered, have a commitment to grow their business in the UK and provide a clear solution to one of the two industry challenges. Those shortlisted will then be invited to meet the selection panel in early December and the cohort 2 programme will commence in early January 2019. The full selection criteria and expression of interest are available on LORCA’s website: www.lorca.co.uk/get-involved/membership/how-to-apply/.
The open call follows the launch of its first cohort in June 2018. LORCA’s role is to work across industry to understand the most pressing cybersecurity challenges and nurture the most promising, scalable solutions to address these challenges. LORCA is a pillar of the wider National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021.
Lydia Ragoonanan, director of LORCA, pictured at the summer 2018 launch, said: “As the UK’s dedicated space for industry-led cybersecurity innovation, it was important for us to engage with key figures from industry to make sure we’re addressing their most pressing problems. We know there are companies out there with enormous potential to provide solutions to these challenges, and we’re proud to bring together all the elements needed for truly collaborative innovation.”
And Minister for Digital Margot James said: “We are doing all we can to help our innovative start-ups thrive and maintain our position as Europe’s leading tech hub. This initiative will see some of the most talented entrepreneurs and companies benefit from expert advice to turn their creative ideas into practical business tools and develop the cyber security technology of tomorrow.”
