7.3. Promoting cyber security science and technology

Measuring success

7.2.5. The Government will measure its success in stimulating growth in the cyber security sector by assessing progress towards the following outcomes:

• greater than average global growth in the size of the UK cyber sector year on year; • a significant increase in investment in early stage companies; • adoption of more innovative and effective cyber security technologies in government.

7.3. PROMOTING CYBER SECURITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

7.3.1. The UK’s thriving science and technology sector and its cutting-edge research, underpins our world-leading cyber security capabilities. To maintain and enhance the UK’s reputation as a global leader in cutting-edge research, we need our academic research establishments to continue to attract the best and the brightest minds in the field of cyber security. This will require us to foster centres of excellence that attract the most able and dynamic scientists and researchers, and deepen the active partnership between academia, the Government and industry. This will involve a match-making role for the Government, where we incentivise such collaborations. Success would see us establish a selfsustaining ecosystem that allows ideas – and people – to circulate between the three sectors in a mutually beneficial way.

Objective

7.3.2. By 2021, the UK will have strengthened its position as a world leader in cyber science and technology. Flexible partnerships between universities and industry will translate research into commercially successful products and services. The UK will maintain its reputation for innovative excellence, including in those areas of exceptional national strength, such as the financial sector.

Our approach

7.3.3. To achieve this, the Government will encourage collaboration, innovative and flexible funding models for research, and the commercialisation of research. Government will ensure that the human and behavioural aspects of cyber are given sufficient attention, and that systems beyond the technical, such as business processes and organisational structures, are included within cyber science and technology.

7.3.4. This will underpin the creation of products, systems and services that are ‘secure by default’, with appropriate security considered from the outset and where security becomes a conscious ‘opt-out’ for users.

7.3.5. We will publish a detailed Cyber Science and Technology Strategy after a thorough consultation with partners and stakeholders. This will include identifying areas of science and technology that the Government, industry and academia consider to be important and identifying gaps in the UK’s current capacity to address them.

7.3.6. The Government will continue to provide funding and support for the Academic Centres of Excellence, Research Institutes and Centres for Doctoral Training. In addition, we will create a new Research Institute in a strategically important subject area. We will also fund further research in those areas where the upcoming Cyber Science and Technology Strategy identifies capability gaps. Important areas that will be given consideration include: big data analytics; autonomous systems; trustworthy