The Global Security Challenge runs international

business plan A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals. It also describes the nature of the business, background information on t ...

competitions to find and select the most promising security technology startups in the world. The GSC holds regional selection events and a Security Summit in London to bring together innovators with government, industry and investors. The GSC belongs to InnoCentive, which acquired the original owner OmniCompete in 2012. OmniCompete also launched the Energy Storage Challenge in 2010.

History

The GSC was founded by

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

students of

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

in spring 2006; the first

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

took place in summer 2006. By 2007, the

Technical Support Working Group The Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) is a United States Interagency program for research and development into combating terrorism measures. Established in 1986, TSWG falls under the oversight of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special ...

, an interagency group of the US Government, sponsored the annual grant award of $500,000 Dollar for the winning security startup. The GSC runs regional finals in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

, in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mar ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

at the Brussels School of International Studies ahead of the GSC

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Security Summit in autumn, hosted by

Past competitions' winners and finalists

GSC finalists and winners from the last three annual competitions have subsequently raised over $117 million in new

venture funding Venture capital financing is a type of funding by venture capital. It is private equity capital that can be provided at various stages or funding rounds. Common funding rounds include early-stage seed funding in high-potential, growth companies ( ...

and grants. The top-selected startups also have secured large contracts with government clients, such as the

US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...

, the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

and the

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

, and with industry behemoths, such as

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

and

Bayer AG Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

from Germany. One regional finalist in 2007, TenCube, recently got acquired by

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

and the cyber 2009 winner

Ksplice Ksplice is an open-source extension of the Linux kernel that allows security patches to be applied to a running kernel without the need for reboots, avoiding downtimes and improving availability (a technique broadly referred to as dynamic softw ...

was acquired in July 2011 by

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

Most Promising Security Start-Up of the Year

*Start-Up Winner from 2006: Ingenia Technology (UK) *Start-Up Winner from 2007: NoblePeak Vision (USA) *Start-Up Winner from 2008: TRX Systems (USA) *Start-Up Winner from 2009: Adaptive Imaging Technologies (Israel) *Start-Up Winner from 2010: mPedigree (Ghana) *Start-Up Winner from 2011: Arktis Radiation Detectors Ltd (Switzerland) *Start-Up Winner from 2012: SQR Systems Ltd (UK)

Most Promising Security Idea of the Year

* Best Security Idea 2008: Homergent Inc (USA) * Best Security Idea 2009: Remedium Technologies (USA)

Crowded Places Challenge winners

* Best Crowded Places Security Idea 2008: Crowd-Vision (Switzerland) * Best Crowded Places Security Idea 2009: iOmniscient (Australia)

Other competition categories

* Winner of Cyber Security Challenge 2009:

(USA) * Winner of Cyber Security Challenge 2010: Masking Networks (USA) * Winner of Cloud Security Challenge 2010: CloudSwitch (USA) * Security SME of the Year 2009: Kromek (UK) * Security SME of the Year 2010: iwebgate (Australia/UK) * Security SME of the Year 2011: Agnitio (Spain)

Judges

The members of the GSC Judging Committees are leaders from venture capital funds, government, universities and industry.

Government

* Defence Science & Technology Agency (

Singapore Government The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise ...

) * Home Office (

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

) * UK

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(Counter Terrorism Science & Technology Centre) *

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(TSWG) - US Department of Defense *

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

- ONR Global

Venture capital

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs ...

* Advent Venture Partners * 3V SourceOne Capital * Cap Vista * NovakBiddle Venture Partners * Paladin Capital Group * PegasusBridge Fund Management Limited * Redshift Ventures * SAIC Venture Capital Corp. * Siemens Venture Capital

University

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

* UnternehmerTum (

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

) *

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

Industry

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

* Booz Allen Hamilton *

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

* Bosch * BWI-IT (IBM, Siemens & German Armed Forces) * IBM *

MITRE The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

* SemCorp Industries * Smiths Detection

Events

The GSC hosts several regional Semi-Finals and one Grand Final (Summit) at leading research universities around the world: *

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

is the host of the annual GSC Security Summit. The 5th annua
GSC Security Summit
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102165157/http://www.globalsecuritychallenge.com/page_display.php?p=7&id=127 , date=2010-11-02 occurred on November 11+12 2010 in London.

Sources

United States Department of State
*http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/26/business/invent.php *http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=3904

External links

Global Security Challenge official website
Security Business plan competitions Recurring events established in 2006 Science competitions