The United Kingdom has opened a funding competition for security technologies, aiming to employ new technologies to address protective security and vehicle screening.
The new round of funding addresses requirements set by the UK’s Home Office and aims to address the challenges identified by the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA).The NPSA serves as the UK’s technical authority for protective security against terrorist and state threats.
This funding will see 466 million Euros available annually as part of the Government’s UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) initiative which aims to place the UK as a defence innovation leader, funding and supporting firms of all sizes to take technology from the drawing board to the production line, and into the hands of the UK Armed Forces.
The NSPA’s target areas identify practical, low-cost XR applications as a method to enhance security operations, decision-making and workforce effectiveness. The NSPA believes that XR technologies offer opportunities to improve situational awareness, decision-making and operator effectiveness, but it believes that practical applications for protective security remain underdeveloped. The organisation sees a need to identify scalable, affordable ways to integrate XR into routine security operations to improve performance, reduce training burdens and increase confidence in security outcomes.
AI in training for incident response simulations is also highlighted, as the UK seeks accessible approaches to creating and delivering adaptable, high-quality site specific simulation training that supports continuous learning, team development and organisational preparedness at low cost.
The UKDI initiative also aims to implement effective monitoring solutions, especially in wide area applications and camera detection scenarios, aiming to deliver reliable detection of hostile reconnaissance by identifying photography and video activity.
Current methods used for identifying people capturing imagery mostly rely on operator observation or limited automated detection tools which can make hostile reconnaissance difficult to identify consistently, particularly across large or complex sites. New approaches are needed to detect and understand photography activity, helping organisations identify potential threats earlier and take appropriate preventative or investigative action.
John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer and former Secretary of State for Defence, commented: “Defence is only as strong as the industry that stands behind it and through UKDI we’re putting innovation at the heart of our approach.
“This shift represents a crucial part of our commitment to change defence, backing the high-growth UK firms developing pioneering technology of the future to boost our national security and make defence an engine for growth.”
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