Inside the secret complex making high-tech gadgets for UK spies

Within some pretty strict limits, HMGCC is opening up because it knows new technology that could be vital to its mission is being developed in small start-ups and in academia.

The technology could relate to fields far from national security – but there could be uses developers are unaware of.

Previously, strict security would have made collaboration impossible, but the hope is it could now happen.

“The idea is that we can take our engineers and their great ideas and put them in the same room as people from industry or academia,” Mr Williamson says.

“In that magical moment when you have different ideas coming together, something really special will emerge.”

But how that technology ends up being used is likely to remain as secret as almost everything else at this site.