Innovation centre Plexal has announced two new global partnerships as it aims to help its cyber security companies to scale internationally.
The East London co-working space has partnered with the Global Cyber Alliance, City of New York and the New York Economic Development Corporation.
The partnerships, which are designed to expand Plexal’s role as a major global cyber security cluster, build on the launch of the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement last year.
LORCA is hosted and delivered by Plexal with £13.5m of funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Its director Lydia Ragoonanan told BusinessCloud last year that we risk throwing away the precious legacy left to us by internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee.
As a global, collaborative non-profit dedicated to reducing cyber risk, Global Cyber Alliance has an extensive network of dedicated partners around the world.
It offers cyber security expertise from government and the private sector to share with Plexal members and members of the LORCA cohort to help them shape their products into viable solutions that solve real-world cyber challenges.
“Sharing knowledge and being open to cooperation between global cyber innovators and industry is more important than ever,” said Andrew Roughan, managing director of Plexal.
“These important partnerships with the New York Development Corporation and the Global Cyber Alliance will mean the emerging cyber stars we support can have even greater direct access to new markets and the networks they need to succeed.”
By 2021, Plexal predicts that LORCA will have stimulated the growth of at least 72 high-potential companies, grown up to 2,000 jobs, and secured £40m in investment.
It recently announced the 11 scaling cyber companies that will form its second cohort.
“Cyber security is one of our world’s greatest threats, and we need to be ambitious about protecting ourselves,” said James Patchett, president and CEO at the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
“That’s why we’re making New York City a hotbed for cyber innovation, to protect every New Yorker and every business – all while creating good-paying jobs.
“We’re proud to help launch this important challenge, which will benefit New York City and create game-changing technology for the world to share.”