UK teams up with Israel to invest in tech startups

The UK Government has partnered up with Israeli experts to invest in tech startups. A £165 million fund has been set up for investment in the startups, with focus being placed on cybersecurity companies.

Cabinet Office Minster Matt Hancock discussed how the UK can benefit from the high number of startups on a trade mission to Israel, stating that “new technologies, including digital technologies, give the world and its citizens opportunities like never before.”

Threats

Hancock added that this new opportunity brings new threats, and that in the UK, the mission to create better digital public services for citizens is “wholly dependent on the ability to protect our networks, our users and our data.”

Hancock pointed out that severe online security breaches cost large businesses around £1.5 million. Cyberattacks are a growing problem in the UK, with the number of attacks doubling in the past year.

Hancock stated that cybersecurity is a “shared responsibility” that requires “the engagement of the whole of society.”

“When it comes to protecting our critical national infrastructure, the importance of partnership between government and industry is particularly important,” he said.

Efficient

Last year, the Government announced that it will be doubling cybersecurity funding over the next five years to £1.9 billion, and that more support will be provided for cyber startups and skills development.

The funding will help to create a cyber innovation centre to enable businesses to learn about cyberattacks and make responses to severe attacks more efficient by dealing with them in real time.

“We will establish cyber innovation centres to support early-stage companies to commercialise their products. I look to the Israeli model as an exemplary precedent,” Hancock said.