techUK is the UK’s leading technology membership organisation with more than 850 members spread across the UK. This collaborative network enables the members to learn from each other and grow in a way which contributes to the UK, both socially and economically. techUK launched in 2013 to champion the technology sector and prepare and empower the UK to embrace and leverage advances in technology, particularly IT.
On July 9th, The Cyber Innovation Awards formed the focus of a techUk, on-line conference, Chaired by Jacqueline de Rojas, President techUK. She introduced key speakers to the event, including Ciaran Martin, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre. He spoke to the conference about his experience in working with GCHQ and assisting Government Policy, especially with a view to the threats posed by other nations through both cyber attacks and covert surveillance.
Matt Warman, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, also spoke about the importance of cyber security and how UK plc is in the vanguard of developments in AI, IoT, Robotics and other applications that have a role to play in our security. Other speakers included:
- Gerry Cantwell, Chief Technology Officer, UKCloudX
- Sue Daley, Associate Director, Technology & Innovation, techUK
- Robert Hannigan, Chairman, BlueVoyant
- Andrew Tsconchev, Director of Technology, Darktrace
techUK Cyber Innovation awards
The event led through to the annual Cyber Innovation Awards – a competitive, “dragon’s den” style pitching competition, judged by an expert panel comprised of:
- Andrew Elliot, Deputy Director, Cyber Security, DCMS
- Andy Williams, Senior Advisor, DIT
- Dr Budgie Dhanda, CEO, Qufaro
The judges selected the 12 finalists from many pre-competition submissions, all having had to provide a detailed explanation of their business, the problem solved by their product and the benefits to the customer. Each company delivered an innovative “pitch” was immediately followed by questions from the Judges, who at the end of the competition awarded the prize for Cyber Exchange innovator of the year.
The winner of the competition was Surevine, a company that was founded in 2008. This business has been through several rounds of investment funding and is now well established with a strong, turnover and excellent contracts, having become a founder member of LORCA – London Office for Rapid Cyber Advancement and accessed its £13.5m innovation programme.
The following companies completed the list of finalists, with Keyless, Angoka and 27k1 all sharing a highly commended, second position.
- Xahive – providing a safe, secure document management solution in cyberspace
- Morten – communications, data centre and IT security software
- Keyless – multi-factor authentication to eliminate fraud, phishing and credential reuse
- Angoka – managing the cybersecurity risks inherent in machine-to-machine communication networks
- CySure – a virtual cyber security officer to protect online equipment and stored data.
- Zerto – providing disaster recovery, backup and workload mobility software
- Tricerion – a patented, single-use picture password log-in software solution
- Gemrajtech – an MSP that provides services in cybersecurity, AI and ML Consulting
- Surevine – builds secure, scalable collaboration solutions for the most security conscious organisations
- CyNation – an integrated risk management and analytics company focused on managing the vulnerabilities inherent in third-party ecosystems.
- IDS International – providing military training in simulated environments
- 27k1 ISMS – a total, ISO 27001 compliance software solution
27k1 Ltd’s pitch focused on how the business has been supporting the UK’s SME sector, enabling them to gain improved business opportunities through achieving ISO 27001 certification and accessing bids tenders and supply chains. The competition judges were particularly impressed by how much the company had achieved both in terms of the comprehensive nature of the software as well as the growth in its reseller channel.
