CyberASAP Programme Year 8 kicks off with a record number of applications

Building on the momentum of previous cohorts, the Year 8 of the Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP) has successfully kicked off, following the assessment of over 60 applications, marking a record-breaking number to date.

With the increasing role of cyber security in today’s interconnected world, we’re delighted to announce the launch of the eighth year’s cohort. We’ve selected 30 innovative projects with the highest commercial potential to go through the first phase of the programme

Robin Kennedy, Co-Director of CyberASAP at Innovate UK.

Funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and delivered by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, the CyberASAP programme is aimed at supporting the development and commercialisation of cyber security innovations from universities across the UK. It brings the government, cyber security academics and the business and investment communities together to accelerate the growth of the sector.

The programme has seen excellent results since its inception, with the CyberASAP Alumni group securing more than £23m in further funding, creating over 30 companies, securing acquisitions (including by Google), and partnering with commercial enterprises.

Running from April 2024 to February 2025, the programme is focused on commercialisation support: building a strong foundation of knowledge and equipping academics with entrepreneurial skills they can apply directly to their own research projects and navigate the complexities of the growth journey.

The CyberASAP programme is delivered across two phases:

• Phase 1: encompassing the creation of a value proposition and its validation in the market, followed by
• Phase 2: providing funding for the development of a Proof of Concept, which is critical for the projects’ commercialisation success.

For the first time, the programme has two strands, Open and Challenge Led. The Challenge Led strand is delivered by Plexal, an innovation company solving society’s challenges through collaboration with government, start-ups and industry, in parallel to the core programme (Open and Challenge led) delivered by Innovate UK.

The teams and projects for CyberASAP 2024/25 are:

• Anglia Ruskin University – Zephyr
• University of St Andrews – EyeLock
• City University of London – ARMOREX
• The University of Manchester – Source Code Security with FuSeBMC-AI
• University of East London – Metaverse Guardian
• Teesside University – OPERA
• University of East Anglia – AI enabled multi-tier trust-management in Internet of Medical Things
• Sheffield Hallam University – EyeGuardChain
• University of Huddersfield – A Secure and Trusted Decentralized Platform for Threat Information Sharing
• De Montfort University – Philleted Phish
• University College London – A continuous post-deployment smart contract vulnerability detection SaaS to ensure blockchain security resilience
• The University of West London – AI-powered Automotive API Security System for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles
• Anglia Ruskin University – SPIDS4IIoT
• Queen’s University of Belfast – QRICSec
• University of Liverpool – Secure Quantum Federated Learning for NISQ devices using Genomic DNA data
• Teesside University – GenAIGuardian
• London Metropolitan University – Risk Assessment in Transactions under Security Threat
• Anglia Ruskin University – OTRAND
• Teesside University – SafeSCMS
• Teesside University – MC-IoT: Model Checking IoT System
• Aston University – MetaSecure
• Keele University – PLS-IIoT
• University of Sunderland – SAIVV
• University of Wolverhampton – Cyber Cavalry
• Nottingham Trent University – Crowd-sourced bug bounty platform for cyber security university students
• Anglia Ruskin University – AI360Degree
• De Montfort University – Protecting Medical Data
• Edinburgh Napier University
• University of Sheffield – GridGuardian
• University of the West of England – Real-time anomaly detection and response for smart manufacturing sensor networks

To find out more visit the CyberASAP programme page.

If you would like to be kept informed about the programme, whether as an investor, industrial supporter or academic participant, please register your interest.