To progress the critical national infrastructure conversation, our team recently boarded a train to Ipswich to visit BT’s Adastral Park, which acted as the host location of our exclusive Cyber Runway CNI needs accelerator.
As reported by UKAuthority: “The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and innovation company Plexal have launched the Cyber Runway CNI programme to strengthen the security of the UK’s critical national infrastructure.”
Plexal and DSIT along with our Cyber Runway CNI cohort, CISO representatives from critical national infrastructure organisations and peers from PA Consulting were welcomed by Matt Capp, Senior Manager at Adastral Park, which is BT’s primary R&D site and a cluster of 100 companies. He noted how Adastral Park was a fitting location for our event, with on-site critical infrastructure for network operations, broadband, vendor equipment, integration centres, cyber security, satellite capabilities and more.
Plexal CEO Andrew Roughan set the scene for the day’s discussion, saying: “We’re going through a technology super-cycle where 25 years of progress is happening every five years. But through a permacrisis triggered by Brexit and the pandemic, the UK has lost its mojo somewhat.
“Now’s the time to step up in domains like critical national infrastructure and deliver economic growth and resilience for the UK as a priority because, as the NCSC reported, we’re being hit by highly significant attacks. This economic growth and reinforced security will in turn create a crucial social dividend of high value jobs, equity and equality in communities we serve.
“By forming an alliance and pulling the trigger on breakthrough solutions, we can enable sovereign capabilities we can be proud of at a national level, opening the doors to fresh trade and export opportunities.”
Russell Gundry, Senior Director for Clusters at Plexal, reinforced the importance of private-public collaboration to make CNI resilience an enduring campaign with a reminder that the UK Government categorises 13 sectors within CNI – from data and energy to health and transport.
Throughout the day, we led groups comprising SME leaders, government officials and CISOs to break out and exchange perspectives – a core component of Cyber Runway CNI. As detailed by UKTN: “The programme aims to bridge the gap between cyber innovation and the security needs of sectors including energy, water, telecoms, transportation and data centres.”
One party noted that the cyber risk to the UK is the highest it’s ever been, a result of attack volume and help from technologies such as AI. Additionally, it was noted that skills, investment and support for SMEs were flagged as key issues.
However, it was clear there’s mutual appetite from the public and private sector to ensure government works closely with industry to tackle this. As such, we should expect clear direction to manage threats with a revised cyber strategy.
The US-based Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was championed by one as a clear pathway that companies can use to deploy and scale quickly. Comparatively, it was suggested the UK fails in this area and advised this is solved quickly to ensure sovereign capability is built.
Getting into insights from breakouts, here’s an overview of the challenges and opportunities:
CHALLENGES
Funding, regulation and governance are considered blockers for SMEs to achieve commercial cut-through with telecoms organisations, to which CISOs said procurement processes are a barrier for them too.
Some government strategies were said to be a source of frustration, prompting a request that they should shape direction – but without limiting SMEs with slow policy development.
The procurement process within government was described as a complex patchwork to navigate. And targeting the energy sector was also said to be difficult due to factors such as finding the problem owners, while it’s common for primes to be preferred compared to SMEs.
Access to data is considered constrained, making it difficult for SMEs to provide tailored solutions to CNI organisations.
Financing is named an age-old problem, with UK investors unwilling to take as many risks compared to those in US – a location also believed to have deeper pockets. This raised the question of: how do you square UK sovereignty if people are heading overseas?
OPPORTUNITIES
Partnership models are considered favourable to establish SMEs as innovators that can deliver value to large counterparts. It’s suggested physical co-location can support the approach for better collaboration opportunities.
Revised external engagement processes to improve visibility of opportunities where technology can act as an enabler.
Better access to resources within CNI to work with real problems – currently there’s a discrepancy between what’s said at high level versus problems at low level.
More forums and workshops between government, industry and academia to move CNI forward, make connections and understand challenges.
To make progress in the UK, we need to better exploit technology. We’re good in research but commercialisation for economic benefit is also essential. Only by talking is how we make progress.
Cyber Runway CNI has just begun and we’ve got plenty more conversation and action to follow over the coming months. As IT Brief reports: “The programme is designed as a cross-sector collaboration. SMEs will gain access to CNI buyers, investors and growth advice, while CNI organisations will see new tools, regulatory insights and supply chain initiatives.”
Want to join us? Our next needs accelerator event for Cyber Runway CNI will take place in Cheltenham on Wednesday 21st January 2026. Contact our Innovation Lead sarah.pye@plexal.com to be part of it.
