Technology Access Programme

Digital Security by Design is an initiative supported by the UK government to transform digital technology and create a more resilient, and secure foundation for a safer future. Digital Security by Design is looking for tech companies of all sizes to trial and experiment with Arm’s Morello SoC and demonstrator board based on CHERI, a new instruction set architecture developed by the University of Cambridge.

The purpose of this Technology Access Programme is to build a pipeline and community of developers and early stage technology companies in the UK that are able to utilise Digital Security by Design technologies and make use of relevant hardware that will become available over the course of the programme.

This activity will establish the foundations so that the UK becomes the leading edge supplier of more secure products and services and technologies.

Programme benefits

For six months participating companies will have access to an Arm Morello Board, with its cutting-edge CPU architecture, technical guides and support, to trial these new technologies within their systems.

Through the Digital Security by Design Technology Access Programme, UK-based companies can use these technologies to uncover security vulnerabilities in their own systems before they become a problem, and provide findings that could influence the design of future computer systems.

These technologies, which can eliminate most memory safety issues in C and C++, include CHERI, a new architecture developed by the University of Cambridge along with the Morello Board, a real-world test platform developed by Arm for the Morello prototype architecture based on the CHERI protection model.

CHERI technology can be applied to legacy C or C++ with minimal changes to an existing code base.

The Technology Access Programme will give qualifying companies access to Arm’s Morello technology free of charge as well as £15,000 in funding.

Who should apply

This programme is for companies that:

• Are based in the UK
• Use C and C++ as the main programming languages for their software
• Are able to evaluate C and C++ on new architectures, in the context of performance and improving security.
• Have engineers and a company culture interested in exploring, experimenting and inventing with new technologies, with a view of finding commercial applications.
• Want to influence the future of secure software architecture.
• Have a strong focus on security and sectors that have safety critical systems e.g. aerospace, autonomous systems, healthcare, supply-chain, telecommunications, transportation, and utilities.

Programme tiers

The Technology Access Programme offers two levels of participation available to UK companies:

Tier 1

Tier 1 is only for UK Companies with under 250 employees

• Receive £15,000 in funding during the course of the 6 month programme
• Get access to an Arm Morello board
• Participate in one-to-one check-in sessions, practical demonstrations and focused activities for the experimentation programme
• Receive technical guidance and support from Digital Security by Design programme team
• Access Digital Catapult’s labs with state-of-the art IoT and 5G network testing facilities

Tier 2

Tier 2 is for all UK Companies

• Get access to the Arm Morello Board for 6 months
• Receive technical guidance and support from Digital Security by Design programme team
• Access Digital Catapult’s labs with state-of-the art IoT and 5G network testing facilities