Critical National Infrastructure
Zone

A fireside conversation introducing the expanding overlap between defence and critical national infrastructure (CNI) — backed by £790m for homeland and overseas base protection plus £115m on AI and biosecurity resilience — and what this new zone means for suppliers working across both worlds.

How defence-grade approaches to threat modelling and resilience are being adapted for wider critical national infrastructure protection.

A panel on the growing strategic importance of protecting undersea infrastructure — part of the £790m newly committed to homeland and overseas base protection, radar, sensors and counter-drone systems — and the roles of defence, industry and government in securing it.

A look at how defence procurement thinking is migrating into wider critical national infrastructure investment, from energy systems to communications, and where the commercial opportunities sit for suppliers straddling both sectors.

A sponsor-led session on the £330m Critical Underwater Infrastructure programme protecting seabed cables and pipelines, and the sensor, surveillance and response capability it will require from industry.

A panel debating how investment responsibility for CNI protection should be shared between government, regulated industry and private operators.

With space now named a critical national infrastructure sector and a growing £3.2bn space budget covering space-based ISR, space control and the new Integrated Air, Space and Missile Defence Operations Centre, this sponsor-led session sets out where industry fits in protecting satellites, signals and sovereign assets.

A practical guide for suppliers already working in defence on how to extend their reach into the new critical national infrastructure market, and who the programme leads actually setting requirements are.