Restoration Partners launches virtual technology cluster alongside Lockheed Martin to enhance UK cyber security. The joint initiative accelerates development and adoption of mature technologies.
Restoration Partners, working with Lockheed Martin UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of the global security and technology company, has established a virtual network to allow UK based innovative solutions to grow and mature to counter the threat from cyber attacks.
The Virtual Technology Cluster (VTC) brings together industry, academia and the investment community. The aim is to accelerate innovation and boost growth among the UK’s home-grown cybersecurity technology developers.
The VTC will provide small, specialist businesses, who might find it difficult to get the right support, a ready-made ecosystem of capital, professional services and suppliers relevant to their field. Through a multi-tiered arrangement, SMEs can trade with larger companies and benefit from growth support or share intelligence, experience and ideas.
Building on more than £40m of investment in cyber facilities at Farnborough, Hampshire, including a £30m innovation lab which is available for use by small and medium-sized British companies, Lockheed Martin has invested a further £250,000 to engage with the cyber supply chain and take the VTC concept through pilot to launch.
Ken Olisa, OBE, chairman of Restoration Partners said “The fight for cybersecurity is an asynchronous one: small nimble groups pushing innovation in pursuit of destruction versus nation states, businesses and citizens seeking to go about their lawful business. Fortunately, the UK is home to a growing number of entrepreneurial innovators who are devoted to defeating the cybercriminals.”
“The Virtual Technology Cluster is a pioneering initiative,” Ken Olisa added, “nourishing those innovators and connecting them with Lockheed Martin’s supply chain so that solutions to the ever-present threat can be implemented at the fastest speed possible.”
Stephen Ball, Chief Executive for Lockheed Martin UK said “We recognise challenges faced by SMEs when turning their innovations into products, and taking those products to market. We also know how crucial these niche businesses are to the supply chain of companies like Lockheed Martin as well as to the security of the UK. Our VTC is a new way of working with suppliers to develop a comprehensive network that will stimulate growth in this crucially important technology sector.”
Visit the website for the full Lockheed Martin press release.
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