GCHQ teams up with Manchester Science Partnerships

UK spy agency GCHQ teams up with Manchester Science Partnerships, tech security giant Cisco and business accelerator Wayra to launch tech accelerator

22:00 04 February 2019

GCHQ, which partners with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and MI5 teams up with Manchester Science Partnerships, tech security giant Cisco and business accelerator Wayra to launch Manchester’s first tech accelerator. It offers start-ups support to expand capability, improve ideas and devise cutting-edge tech products including machine learning, automation and data engineering.

 

Wayra director Gary Stewart said: “Manchester has a vibrant tech community. The programme we are running in the city has a broader remit, unlike the London cohort, which looked specifically at cyber security,”

 

“The goal is to help companies to identify technical possibilities of their solution as GCHQ have a lot of great technologists which the start-ups can get access to during the programme,”

 

Four companies that have already signed up for the programme are Locometric with its floor-planning app RoomScan Pro, blockchain-powered ad tech firm Data Choice, job app Jobseekrs, and retail tracking technology PlaceDashboard.