World Creativity & Innovation Day: Advancing Sustainable Innovation in Cybersecurity
Sustainable innovation doesn’t happen at the moment of inspiration, it happens when an idea survives contact with the real world. World Creativity and Innovation Day (21 April) exists to spotlight the role creativity and innovation play in solving problems and supporting sustainable development.
In cyber, that “real world” is unforgiving: threats evolve, systems are complex, and organisations need solutions that are practical, trustworthy and deployable, not just theoretically impressive. That’s why CyberInvent was built as more than a PhD pathway. It’s a fully funded PhD academy with entrepreneurship training and a route into venture building, designed to turn bold research into solutions that can actually be adopted.
And because innovation only becomes sustainable when it can stand on its own, CyberInvent connects into our Venture Building Programme, matching founders with teams, mentoring, and real‑world validation to help take solutions from concept to launch.
Innovation that begins with a problem that won’t go away
In practice, cyber innovation starts in the same place every time: a recurring problem that organisations can’t solve with today’s tools, processes, or assumptions.
Across the CyberInvent cohort, the starting points differ, but the pattern is consistent: each researcher has found a real‑world gap where better systems, smarter decision‑making, or more trustworthy technology could materially reduce risk.
Here’s a peek into the current cohort, and the real-world problems they’re solving:
Gadewch i ni feithrin seiberwydnwch gyda’n gilydd
Dylan Hampton
I’m exploring how we build trust in the next generation of autonomous and agentic AI systems. My background spans data science, UX, and digital transformation. I’ve always believed technology should help people, not harm them. I’m excited by AI’s potential, but conscious of its risks. My PhD is my way of doing something about it, by building a framework for trustworthy autonomy that helps autonomous systems operate safely, transparently, and in ways that support people, not replace them.
Jake Samuels
My research looks at how people and security systems interact, and I’m currently publishing my first paper on using AI to simulate human behaviour. While some cyber-attacks target technology, many target people manipulating them into sharing sensitive information. These social engineering attacks are becoming more advanced and often bypass traditional security controls. My work uses AI to simulate these attacks, helping public and private organisations better understand their risks and strengthen their defences.
Richard Harding
My work bridges academic research and real-world application. I specialise in vehicle forensics, using reverse engineering and custom scripting to open up access to data in a highly complex industry. I’m now scaling this research into a UK-focused solution, supporting law enforcement, government agencies, and beyond, with digital tools built for the modern “computer on wheels”.
Stephanie Bennett
I’m a PhD researcher with over seven years’ experience working on national security policy in the UK Government. Through my work, I’ve seen how di cult it can be for organisations to turn cyber threat intelligence into meaningful action. My PhD focuses on how UK critical infrastructure organisations use cyber threat intelligence to prioritise security decisions and manage risk. I’m developing a next-generation CTI platform that brings together risk modelling, compliance, and real-time intelligence sharing, helping organisations move from reactive cybersecurity to more proactive, resilient decision-making.
Zain Hankin
My background is in AI and cyber security, and my PhD focuses on building an end-to-end automated pentesting framework for OT environments, including systems that can recommend mitigations, not just spot weaknesses. A big part of my research looks at tackling real challenges with LLMs, like hallucination, precision, and context drift, so security tools can adapt, learn, and improve over time.
Proof-of-concept is the turning point, but it’s not the finish line
A working concept is a milestone, not a market. Between “it works” and “it’s adopted,” there’s a difficult middle ground: validation, product decisions, team formation, real users, real constraints, and the discipline to iterate fast without losing the original insight.
This is where the transition from innovation to sustainable innovation is made, and it’s exactly why CyberInvent doesn’t stop at research outcomes. Once ideas hit proof of concept, the pathway continues into venture building support to turn research into real‑world impact.
The Venture Building Programme is designed for innovators who have the insight, but need the structure and support to build a venture around it.
Here, the model flips the usual startup story. Instead of asking founders to arrive with everything already in place, the programme helps build the startup team around the idea, combining commercial and product capability with technical depth and mentoring.
Over 12 months, founders are supported with:
- Financial support: including a monthly stipend to help founders focus on building.
- A fully assembled team matched around the founder and idea (including co-founders recruited around the innovator).
- Workspace in a startup hub (Newport/Cardiff) and day‑to‑day collaboration.
- Mentoring and expert input from experienced founders, investors, technical leads and commercial advisors.
- Real‑world validation, including access to resources that help test solutions in realistic conditions.
Put simply: CyberInvent helps create the innovation; Venture Building helps carry it into the world
Ready to build?
If you’ve spotted a problem that current cybersecurity tools don’t solve, this is where you turn it into something real.
Whether you’re a researcher, a cyber professional, or someone with a strong idea, explore how we help you build, test, and launch: