The Government’s Technology Strategy Board has invited individuals and organisations to form consortia and bid for GB pound 6m of new research investment.
The money is earmarked for projects that will investigate how to reduce the security vulnerabilities of the complex information systems on which the digital world is based.
A statement from the Technology Strategy Board said: ” Those participating will be the first to investigate a critical challenge for modern society. The tools, techniques and services developed will help improve security for the multitude of organisations and individuals that rely on complex information systems for everything from home entertainment, to healthcare delivery and financial transactions.
“Society depends on a network of complex integrated information systems. These enable us to enjoy the provision of accurate, timely information and reliable services to our homes and business.”
Complex but vulnerable
“But there is no way to accurately monitor and protect against their cumulative weaknesses. As reliance on these systems has increased they have become more sophisticated and typically converged to offer richer functionality and lower costs. This is set to continue and accelerate.
“The result will be more complex but more vulnerable systems as functionality could, in some cases, override concerns about resilience and security. These vulnerabilities present serious potential risks to the security and safety of society and will be tackled by the successful competition participants.”
The funding competition is being supported by the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It will deliver the only publicly-funded UK research into this global concern.
It is open to individuals and organisations from any industry or academic sector whose expertise can be applied to help address this challenge.
Lifeblood, existence
Andrew Tyrer, innovation platform leader, Network Security, at the Technology Strategy Board, said: “Information is the lifeblood of our day to day existence.
“A failure to predict weakness and future vulnerabilities in the way these systems grow and develop could lead to problems in every aspect of modern society. Our competition will seek to address what we consider to be one of the greatest challenges to the way we live and work.”
The competition is designed to encourage different organisations of different disciplines, types and sizes to work together. Each submission must demonstrate how the participants intend to share expertise to deliver greater results than they could alone.
Information days
It also aims to encourage SMEs and individuals to participate by providing a series of information days that will help less-experienced parties find out more about the submission process; a social networking service to help interested parties form consortia or find existing ones in need of specific experience; and a fast-track route for submissions valued at under GB pound 150,000.
The competition formally opens on the 16th March 2009 and expressions of interest must be submitted by 23rd April. The deadline for full submissions is 25th June.
There will be an initial briefing day to be held on the 27 February. Two further workshops will be help in March for anyone seeking submission partners or more information about the competition itself.
