Having led the UK Tech: San Francisco Trade Mission on behalf of UK Government, we’ve returned from the US with international insights to declare as the global cyber ecosystem convened in California for RSA Conference.
Indeed, it’s been a packed period of events in the cyber calendar. From Cyber Runway Live to CyberUK, RSA was the filling in that security sandwich.
Plexal, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Department for Business and Trade, National Cyber Security Centre and Innovate UK had a common goal with our trade mission. We aligned to the Cyber Growth Action Plan to boost the UK cyber sector by supporting innovation and job creation.
We attended RSA with a cohort of British cyber and AI security startups. These innovators are developing everything from cryptographic, self‑auditing infrastructure and quantum‑secure hardware to threat intelligence and cyber security education.
As part of this trade mission, we hosted UK House on behalf of UK Government to connect British and international organisations exploring opportunities in the US market. Through panels and networking, our scaling innovators engaged fellow entrepreneurs, investors and experts to discuss UK-US insights, cyber and AI trends and growth routes.
Reflecting on this year’s RSA Conference and impact of the UK Tech: San Francisco Trade Mission, Diane Gilbert, Senior Innovation Lead for Programmes at Plexal, said: “RSA is an intense, fast-moving environment and attending as a collective gave our delegates confidence and clarity. The strength of the trade mission lay not just in being present at a global event, but in creating the right conditions for meaningful conversations to happen. We actively achieved this through Plexal-hosted engagements, including roundtables, networking and showcases, also guiding our delegates through the most valuable partner-led events.
“Delegate feedback reinforced the power of this strongly. Participants spoke about the credibility of forming a coordinated UK presence and the difference engaging with customers, partners and investors. Many highlighted the importance of peer support and learning from others at a similar stage, sharing insight in real time and having space to sense-check decisions as opportunities emerged throughout the week.
“This underlines why RSA continues to be such an important moment for our programmes. For our delegates, the value wasn’t simply in attending a conference, but in gaining momentum by leaving with stronger networks, clearer next steps towards US expansion and renewed confidence in their international ambitions.
“As a return visitor to the event, it’s clear to me that this blend of collective presence, targeted support and shared learning is what turns RSA from a busy diary date into a genuinely impactful experience.”
Meanwhile, Mary Welton, Innovation Associate at Plexal, attended RSA for the first time this year. Observing with fresh eyes, she shared: “RSA didn’t feel like a conference in one place, it felt like the entire cyber ecosystem had come together and spread across the city.” She highlighted versatile ways to connect with people across San Francisco – from more traditional formal dinners to chaotic karaoke nights.
Having worked closely with the Cyber Runway Grow cohort of 21 startups in the lead up to RSA, Mary was filled with fresh empathy regarding how isolating and difficult founding is. “At the end of the week, we had dinner with our trade mission startups and hearing them talk about who they’d met, partnerships explored and investors engaged really demonstrated impactful change in their businesses, creating a real sense of excitement and momentum among them.”
The group bonding experience that this converted into was palpable. “Spending a full week together in that kind of environment – going to events, comparing notes, making introductions for each other – builds relationships very quickly,” Mary explained. “Founders began spotting opportunities for each other, not just themselves. That kind of network is hard to manufacture and our UK Tech: San Francisco Trade Mission accelerated it in seven days.”
Plexal is committed to strengthening Britain’s technology base and enhancing national resilience – at scale and at pace to achieve real-world adoption of solutions. And recommendations from the Cyber Growth Action Plan we were able to deliver on with our trade mission to San Francisco was ‘putting leadership in the right places’ and ‘supporting businesses at all stages’. We know that cross-sector collaboration is fundamental to elevate our cyber capabilities and that’s precisely why we’re proud to have led efforts alongside the public and private sectors.
Closing on market trends, Mary concluded: “At RSA, it felt like the way cyber startups are showing up is changing. There’s more personality in how companies present themselves – they’re able to be more creative and human.
“Counter to that on the technology side, I think there’s been a shift towards AI as well. There’s still a lot of AI everywhere, but this felt less surface-level than before and more companies seem to be authentically assessing if AI fits into their product in a meaningful way.
“A big takeaway from founders was that RSA just has everything going on, with value at every stage, whether you’re at the early or later stage, building initial connections or closing deals. Some even changed their travel plans to stay in San Francisco longer. Of course, attending RSA independently is a big expense and it’s great to have been able to alleviate that pressure for our cohort – not just financially, but also delivering structure to support growth journeys.”
