The $500,000 Global Security Challenge is back for another year after a successful events the last two years. While this is a clearly a niche competition, the market it explores is huge and very important to people with a lot of money (the defense/security establishment).
From the competition’s website:
We seek to uncover the creative capabilities of innovators in universities and infant companies that apply to public security needs. This includes software or hardware solutions that help (a) protect people, critical infrastructure, facilities and data/electronic systems against terrorist or other criminal attacks and natural disasters or (b) help governments, businesses and communities defend against, cope with or recover from such incidents.
Examples of our areas of interest are (but are not limited to) biometrics, detection sensors, network security, data storage, video surveillance, RFID, data-mining SW, biotechnologies, and search software.
My thought as I ponder this competition is how they would respond to ’soft-power’ startups in the media and cultural space. Think Radio Free Europe or other types of security tools that have been employed over the years to try to strengthen security for the US and its allies?
Entry is open until June 15. Semifinals will be held in September in DC, Brussels, and Singapore.
