Funding Opportunity - Apply for a share of up to £800,000

Funding competitionCyber security academic startup accelerator programme 2024-25: phase 1

Individuals based in a UK academic institution can apply for a share of up to £800,000 to join the cyber security academic startup accelerator programme (CyberASAP).

• Competition opens: Monday 5 February 2024
• Competition closes: Wednesday 6 March 2024 11:00am

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £800,000 in innovative on cyber security projects coming from an academic research base.

The aim of this competition is to identify the most promising commercial opportunities. Your proposal must include the area of your research, the problem that you are solving and your proposed solution.

The Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP) is a one year programme.

This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition.

Phase 1 will last up to four months, split into two stages:

1. An initial two months for value proposition development activities, followed by a presentation to an independent judging panel who will select teams to go to stage 2.
2. A further two months for market validation activities.

Phase 1 will determine the value of the idea and, if appropriate, identify the best commercial route to progress. The programme will be supported by industry experts, including some from cyber security.

This competition has two funding strands for entry:

Strand 1: Industry Challenge-led strand with the three challenges: AI model security, software supply chain security, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) security or OT (Operation Technology) security.

Strand 2: Open strand

Please note that although you can select the strand for your project, we will make the final decision which strand is the most appropriate for your application.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief.