Government invests £13.5m in the London Office for rapid cybersecurity advancement at Here East

• Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Matt Hancock officially opens government-funded London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA)
• Newly named centre will position the UK as global leader in cyber security and support the country’s innovators to turn their ideas to solve critical cyber security challenges into reality

London, 27th June 2018: A new centre dedicated to cyber innovation, the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA), was officially opened by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) yesterday.

The centre will be run by Plexal in the East London Innovation Centre located on the fast-growing Here East digital and creative campus, developed and owned by Delancey’s DV4 fund. The programme will be delivered in partnership with Deloitte’s cyber team and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast. LORCA will receive £13.5m in support from DCMS over the course of three years.

LORCA will help some of the UK’s brightest cyber security stars across all stages of growth address business challenges and achieve greater impact with their innovative solutions. The first ten organisations that will make up its first cohort have been unveiled, including B-Secur which specialises in using biometric heartbeat solutions as a means of authentication, as well as for health and wellbeing purposes.

LORCA will be joining the existing community at Here East of academics, global corporates and fast-growth businesses. The Delancey owned campus is unique in providing the space and infrastructure for entrepreneurs, global businesses and academics to come together and collaborate in the pursuit of innovation. As LORCA opens its doors, it brings cyber innovators to the unique campus who will be able to collaborate with the hugely diverse range of businesses already there.

Plexal, which operates London’s largest innovation space and specialises in helping high-tech startups in artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the Internet of Things, will run the £13.5m innovation centre in Plexal City at Here East, on the site of London’s Olympic Park. LORCA will be delivered in partnership with Deloitte’s cyber team and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast in a cross-disciplinary team with strategic, entrepreneurial, engineering and cyber security technical skills.

Lydia Ragoonanan, Director of LORCA, said: “The threats posed to businesses by cyber-attacks are continually changing. We’re proud to be working with industry to understand their needs, with investors who can help develop the solutions scale at pace, and with incredible innovators who are helping secure UK’s position as a world leader in cyber security.”

“By bringing all these things together in our new centre we will stay ahead and help British businesses grow and succeed.”

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “Britain’s future prosperity will be based on its digital technology and no technology can work without cyber security so expanding this sector is critical to our future.

“It’s fantastic to open this new centre where some of our most talented entrepreneurs and innovative companies will develop the cyber security technology of tomorrow. This will boost London’s booming tech sector and benefit businesses across the country.

“We are investing £1.9 billion to protect the nation from cyber threats, have introduced new laws to strengthen our defences, and developed a wealth of free help and guidance for businesses available through our National Cyber Security Centre.”

Gavin Poole, Chief Executive of Here East, said: “The threat of cyber-attacks is something that most businesses are familiar with and there is no doubt that many of them could do more to protect themselves against such an eventuality. Cyber is fast moving and constantly changing and we need to keep ahead of the game. That’s why Plexal creating the London Cyber Innovation Centre at Here East is hugely important and exciting for us. This centre will be at the forefront of some of the most fascinating areas in cyber innovation. We look forward to welcoming cyber innovators to our unique campus and seeing how they will collaborate with the hugely diverse range of businesses already located here.”

Paul Goswell, managing director of Delancey, said: “Here East has quickly become the natural home for some of Europe’s most innovative companies. The arrival of LORCA strengthens that even further and enables London to position itself as the global leader in cyber security. As well as making the internet safer for all, LORCA will create jobs and boost Britain’s reputation around the world as the go-to destination for technology startups.” 

Stephen Wray, Director of Cyber Innovation at Deloitte, said: “We are supporting clients solve cyber challenges in over 150 countries. LORCA will connect innovators with these global market opportunities. We look forward to bringing our domain expertise to help amplify the impact of LORCA Members for the benefit of the UK economy”

Dr Godfrey Gaston, CSIT Director, said: “CSIT is delighted to be a partner in LORCA. We will replicate our unique innovation model to assist the startup community within the new centre. This will be achieved through our dedicated engineering support and delivery of an academic engagement and thought leadership programme. This is a strategically important initiative and we are excited to start working with the next wave of UK cyber innovators.”

Sharon Barber, Chief Security Officer, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “As a founding partner we are delighted to foster growth, creativity and support cyber security innovators as they mature and scale up their proposition as it goes to the heart of our strategy to help Britain rosper.”