Furthering our existing partnership, Plexal and Cisco have announced an innovation opportunity for UK SMEs through their collaboration with the Laboratory for AI Security Research (LASR) – a public-private partnership between government, enterprise and academia.
LASR’s goal is to advance AI security for UK national security and economic prosperity. As part of LASR’s mission, Plexal is driving industry engagement to address real-world AI security challenges while Cisco was named as LASR’s first technology partner earlier this year.
Now, six months into this collaboration, we’re launching the second LASR Opportunity Call focused on AI supply chain security, with applications open until midday on Wednesday 17th December. We’re looking for UK SMEs addressing challenges associated with the security of AI supply chains, such as secure deployment for critical national infrastructure (CNI), to join us on an eight-week initiative. During that time, they’ll receive commercialisation guidance from Plexal and technical insights from Cisco to support in developing their solutions.
This latest initiative recognises the potential of AI in growing the UK economy, while simultaneously acknowledging this will only occur through secure adoption of the technology from businesses and consumers alike. This adoption must be built on a solid foundation of trust and security – ensuring AI systems, models, infrastructure and data are safe from cyber threats and malicious attacks.
Throughout the programme, successful applicants will be encouraged to develop new AI supply chain security capabilities including building, validating and testing their solutions. They’ll also receive access to funding, mentoring and tools.
Key opportunity areas for AI security capabilities include:
- Secure deployment and monitoring of AI at the edge for CNI
- The origin and trustworthiness of AI components
- The integrity of AI models throughout their lifecycle
Saj Huq, CCO at Plexal, says: “Having discovered a group of novel companies to be part of LASR’s AI security ambition for our initial collaboration with Cisco, we’re pleased to move onto the second phase of this Opportunity Call. Supply chain vulnerabilities and risks to AI systems are a growing concern as the maturity of AI adoption continues to increase across enterprises and governments worldwide.
“A dedicated focus on developing solutions to this challenge area is critical and presents a global opportunity to bring more UK SMEs into this cross-sector mission. This is how we’ll continue strengthening the national technology and innovation base, which benefits both the UK economy and resilience.”
Adele Every, UK Managing Director for Public Sector at Cisco, adds: “SMEs are at the forefront of innovation in the UK, and their agility and creativity are vital to solving the security challenges posed by AI’s rapid adoption. This initiative represents a significant opportunity for SMEs to shape the future of AI security, collaborate with leading experts, and bring solutions to real-world problems that will help protect the UK’s digital economy. We’re proud to support and empower the next generation of innovators as they contribute to a safer, more resilient AI supply chain.”
Join us for our Ask Me Anything session on Wednesday 10th December, so you have all the information you need to make a strong submission by the deadline of midday on Wednesday 17th December.
