ScotlandIS Cyber, the Scottish Cyber Cluster, ran its first Cyber innovation clinic today. The idea behind the cyber innovation clinic is to provide a friendly forum for cyber start-ups to practice their pitch and to get insights from industry experts. We had 4 participating companies and an impressive panel made up of hugely experienced cyber and innovation specialists. Federico Charosky, Founder of Quorum Cyber hosted the event and was joined by:
- Peter Jaco, Co-Founder Scottish Tech Army, Cyber Board member and Chair and cyber investor
- Andy Williams, DIT Cyber Advisor
- Steve McKee, Cyber specialist, Cisco
- Nicola Cooper, Information security manager, Virgin Money
- Professor Bill Buchanan, Professor of Cryptography, Napier University.
The participating companies were:
Decode Cyber Solutions whose founder Scott Tees has over 30 years military and police experience. Decode Cyber Solutions’ purpose is to improve the safety and security of businesses by positively influencing organisational culture and online behaviour.
CyberShell Solutions whose founder Dr Tayyaba Nafees completed a Cyber Security PhD at Abertay University. CyberShell Solutions focus on helping industry to identify cyber-threats and risks during software development processes.
PRC – Process, Regulation and Compliance are a spinout from Glasgow University who aim to help organisations achieve regulatory compliance of their business processes through security, privacy and transparency by design.
Lupovis are a spin-out from the University of Strathclyde, provisioning agile deception environments that enhance cyber protection frameworks.
The participants were all clear on what feedback they were seeking, for example CyberShell Solutions are finalists for the Start-up Summit and will also soon be seeking investment so wanted to practice the pitch. Others wanted feedback on how clear their USP were and what sector they should focus in.
Each of the 4 companies was given a 20minute slot which covered time for both presentation and questions. The panel gave great feedback to all 4 companies with a real focus on clear definition of their USP and which part of the complex cyber security landscape their company is addressing. Providing information on who the team is also came up as investors and customers invest with or buy from the team. And being clear on who the target market is and what the best route is to take to address this. And the options and best route for commercialisation came up too.
The Scottish cyber cluster will be looking to run more of these so get in touch if you want to be involved in future, either as a panelist, participating company or audience member. We already have 2 companies signed up for our next one which will be in early 2021!
Please get in touch with me at ciara.mitchell@scotlandis.com for more info!