58 Section 7 DEVELOP Our approach 7.2.3. To create this ecosystem, we will: • commercialise innovation in academia, providing training and mentoring to academics; • establish two innovation centres, to drive the development of cutting-edge cyber products and dynamic new cyber security companies, which will sit at the heart of a programme of initiatives to give start-ups the support they need to get their first customers and attract further investment; • allocate a proportion of the £165m Defence and Cyber Innovation Fund to support innovative procurement in defence and security; • provide testing facilities for companies to develop their products, together with a fast-track form of assessment for the next generation of cyber security products and services as they emerge, enabling customers to be confident in their use; • draw on the collective expertise of the industry-government Cyber Growth Partnership to help shape and focus further growth and innovation interventions; • help companies of all sizes scale-up and access international markets; and • promote agreed international standards that support access to the UK market. National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 7.2.4. We will also use the weight of government procurement to spur innovation. The Government faces some of the hardest challenges in cyber security, and some of the biggest threats. We can, and must, pursue the most effective solutions to these problems. That means making it easier for smaller companies to do business with government. It also means the Government must be less risk averse in testing and using new products. This is a win-win solution: the Government will get the best services, and innovative technology will get an early adopter, making it easier to attract investment and a larger customer base. We will encourage all parts of government, including the Devolved Administrations, to take a similar approach. “We want to create a cyber ecosystem in which cyber start-ups proliferate, get the investment and support they need to win business around the world, to provide a pipeline of innovation that channels ideas between the private sector, government and academia.” The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture

Select target paragraph3