OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2015. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today its pledge to serve as an industry partner in CyberInvest, a public/private sector initiative by the U.K. government aimed at bolstering cyber security academic research investment to ensure the U.K. maintains its competitive advantage and keeps pace with technology and the evolving worldwide threat environment..

The announcement was made during a ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge, where Rt Hon Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy and

Robert Hannigan, director, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), formally introduced the new U.K. initiative.

"We are pleased to be an industry partner in U.K. CyberInvest and play a leading role in taking our academic research capabilities to the next level," said

Andrew Tyler, chief executive Europe, Northrop Grumman. "The U.K. is a thriving centre for cutting-edge research so investing in this partnership will help fuel the rapid pace of cyber innovation needed to stay ahead of the growing threat from cyberspace."

Launched by GCHQ and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, CyberInvest brings together key players from government and industry to invest in and support the development of innovative cyber security research across the U.K.'s academic sector.

"Academic collaborations provide the opportunity to access innovation, to co-develop research, to make entry-level investments in technology, and to fund the researchers in the field who may become tomorrow's cyber leaders," said

Kathy Warden, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Information Systems. "The benefit of strategic research to solve mission-realistic challenges is a shared responsibility of government and industry so we are proud to be a part of this critically important initiative."

The U.K. is a world leader in cyber security research and has made great strides over the last five years to boost investment in this area. Under CyberInvest, Northrop Grumman is one of several partners providing investment funds over the next five years to spur innovative approaches and to collaborate with researchers to address the cyber threat. Northrop Grumman will also sponsor clearances for academics and have a view into the totality of cyber security research across the Academic Centres of Excellence, Research Institutes and Centres for Doctoral Training.

Northrop Grumman is committed to global partnerships across academia and government to advance next-generation ideas in cyber research and to groom tomorrow's much-needed cyber workforce. In 2009, the company formed the Cybersecurity Research Consortium, an industry/academia partnership consisting of Carnegie-Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and University of Southern California to advance cybersecurity research. The corporation supports the University of MarylandAdvanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students programme, and is partnered with the university's Baltimore Campus Research Park Corporation on the Cync incubator programme - a global cyber start-up initiative designed to cultivate the brightest ideas in cybersecurity and commercialize these innovations for use in the federal marketplace.

In 2014, Northrop Grumman partnered with Cyber Security Challenge U.K to launch CyberCenturion, the competition for young people designed to inspire future professionals towards careers in cyber security. Now in its second year, this youth cyber defence competition will hold its annual finals in the U.K.April 26, 2016.

Northrop Grumman is a leading provider of full-spectrum cyber solutions to the United States government and to allied nations around the world. The company builds cyber into every system, platform, and product that it produces in order to enhance mission assurance and resiliency, while investing both in innovative technology and cyber talent of the future. For information about careers in cyber in the U.K., go to http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/Cybersecurity/Pages/IA15.aspx