QL Security Named a Finalist at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026
QL Security has been named a finalist for Start-Up of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026. The winners are announced at a gala evening on Thursday 24 September 2026, in the Great Hall at King’s College, Cambridge.
This is the second awards programme to shortlist the company this year, after the SME National Business Awards named us a finalist in Best New Business and Business Innovation. Two independent panels reaching the same conclusion about a company registered in December 2025 is a useful check on whether the model behind it holds together.
What our entry rested on
We did not enter on growth figures, because a company of our age does not have a meaningful set of them. The entry rested on the shape of the business instead: advisory, technical implementation and ongoing assurance sitting with one team rather than being assembled by the buyer from three separate suppliers.
That structure is the whole argument. An organisation adopting AI usually meets a market where consultancies write recommendations, vendors sell products and the work of joining the two falls to the customer. Our position is that the same team should identify the risk, build the control and produce the evidence a board, a regulator or a procurement team will accept. We believe few UK firms support an organisation end to end that way.
Why a Cambridge listing carries its own weight
Recognition close to home is harder to overstate, which is precisely what makes it worth having. National awards test whether a business reads well on paper to judges who have never met it. Regional awards are read by people who know the market, share the supply chain and will hear soon enough if the description does not match the delivery.
Cambridge also happens to be where a good deal of the UK’s AI capability is being built. A shortlist that places AI Security alongside the research, the hardware and the applied AI businesses in the region reflects something we argue often: security has to develop at the pace of adoption, not several years behind it.
What happens next
QL Security will be represented at King’s College on 24 September. Whatever the panel decides, the measure that matters is unchanged, and it is not a trophy. It is whether the organisations we work with can stand in front of their own stakeholders and demonstrate their AI Security rather than describe it.
Our thanks to the Cambridge Independent and to the judging panel, and to everyone across the region who has taken the time to talk with us about AI risk this year.
Common questions about the finalist listing
Which category is QL Security a finalist in?
Start-Up of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026. The full finalist list was published in the Cambridge Independent from Wednesday 5 August 2026 and appears on the awards website.
When and where are the winners announced?
At a gala ceremony on the evening of Thursday 24 September 2026, in the Great Hall at King’s College, Cambridge. The evening opens with a drinks reception and dinner before the winners are named.
How many awards shortlists does QL Security hold in 2026?
Two awards programmes have shortlisted QL Security this year. The SME National Business Awards named the company a finalist in two categories, Best New Business and Business Innovation, with a grand final on 6 November 2026. The Cambridge Independent Business Awards have named QL Security a finalist for Start-Up of the Year, decided on 24 September 2026.
If you want to demonstrate your AI Security rather than only document it, book a call.