What are the Trusted Research and Secure Innovation campaigns?
Universities, start-ups, and investors will have heard the terms ‘Trusted Research’ and ‘Secure Innovation’. But what do these terms mean? In this post, we explain.
Trusted Research and Secure innovation are UK-government campaigns led by the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The Trusted Research campaign is focused on the security of international research collaboration and includes guidance for researchers and senior leaders in academia and industry.
The Secure Innovation campaign is aimed at start-ups working with emerging technologies, and aims to help those companies protect themselves and their innovation.
The two campaigns are complementary, with Trusted Research focusing on the earlier stages of research and development in science and technology, and Secure Innovation focusing on later stages in the development and commercialisation of that research.
Moreover, where Trusted Research focuses on understanding the risks inherent in research collaboration with external partners, the Secure Innovation campaign focuses more on protective security for organisations with valuable intellectual property. Both campaigns provide useful information and guidance for organisations concerned about research security.
The UK government is leaning into the two campaigns, announcing the launch of a self-assessment tool for Secure Innovation on 18 April 2024, the same day as Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden gave a speech warning about threats to security of research.
We assess that the UK government’s increased public emphasis on research security suggests that the government has upwardly revised its assessment of the threat. Organisations that conduct, use, or finance research should review their approach to research security and, if necessary, take steps to strengthen their security posture.
