Building The UK Cyber Flywheel

National Theatre London
9 October 2025

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The UK has world-class engineering talent, a storied AI legacy, and a fast-emerging cybersecurity ecosystem. But talent and history aren’t enough. We must turn these advantages into global leadership. That means creating the right environment for innovation to thrive, where startups scale, security teams shape the future, and the private sector leads with urgency and ambition.

Meet our Speakers

Ollie Whitehouse | CTO, NCSC

David Knott | CTO, UK Government

Munawar Valiji | CISO, Close Brothers

Grace Cassy | Co-Founder, Cylon

Tim Sadler | CEO and Founder, Tessian

Dave Palmer | General Partner, Ten Eleven Ventures

Alastair Paterson | CEO and Co-Founder,
Harmonic Security

Ben Dewar-Powell | CISO,
AI Security Institute

Mark Sutton | CISO,
Bain Capital

Kirsty Kelly | Group CISO,
CFC

Simon Goldsmith | Director of Information Security, OVO

James Hadley | CEO & Founder, Immersive

Agenda

  • Grab some breakfast and network with CISOs, CIOs, government leaders, and vendors.

  • Alastair Paterson, CEO and Co-Founder - Harmonic Security

  • Ollie Whitehouse, CTO, NCSC
    NCSC's Perspective on the Evolving AI Landscape

    David Knott, CTO, UK Government
    Start-ups, Security, and Sovereign Capability

    Ben Dewar-Powell, CISO. UK AI Safety Institute

  • James Hadley
    Founder - Immersive

    Tim Sadler
    Founder - Tessian

    Alastair Paterson
    Founder - Digital Shadows

  • Lightning Start-Up Pitches

  • Lightning Start-Up Pitches

  • Kirsty Kelly, Group CISO, CFC

    Mun Valiji, CISO, Close Brothers

    Simon Goldsmith, CISO, OVO

    Mark Malecki, CISO Gibson Dunn

  • Table Discussion focussed on:

    1. Personal experiences in the UK ecosystem

    2. How can our flagship companies help leading UK startups?

    3. What lessons if any should the UK learn from the US and Israel?

    4. Can we do more to make the most of our exited founders?

    • Where we go from here

    • Building a stronger, more connected UK ecosystem

    • Invitation to contribute, lead, and stay involved

  • Joins us for drinks and nibbles at
    Fountain & Ink

Meet the Startups Pitching in the Innovation Showcase

  • RevEng.AI

    RevEng.AI is building artificial intelligence to secure software supply chains

  • Sitehop

    Sitehop’s SAFE Series delivers ultra-low latency, high-throughput, quantum-resilient encryption to secure data in motion across critical industries.

  • Geordie.AI

    Geordie.AI is building agent risk management for the enterprise. Helping accelerate agentic innovation without unleashing risk.

  • Maze

    Maze is building AI agents for vulnerability management.

  • Tulpa.AI

    Tulpa.AI transforms pen testing from a tick-box exercise into real-time proof of exploitable attack paths, powered by AI that mimics expert human behavior.

  • Tracebit

    Tracebit helps teams like Snyk, Docker, and Riot Games deploy high-fidelity security canaries to detect intrusions at scale.

  • Ploy

    Ploy is redefining identity governance with AI, moving organizations from static controls to continuous, autonomous access.

  • Huntbase

    Huntbase gives security teams turn-by-turn guidance to cut through noise and resolve threats faster.

Location

Buffini Chao Deck at the National Theatre

National Theatre, Rooftop, London SE1 9PX, United Kingdom

 

Register Here