New Global Security Challenge Webpage Goes *LIVE*

Exciting News: After two years of using our first webpage, the new, advanced webpage for the Global Security Challenge went online today!

Check it out, we think its pretty cool and are eager to hear your comments.

The URL is the same one as always: www.globalsecuritychallenge.com



Interaction & Research
The new GSC homepage aims to be very interactive and includes the following features:

• our blog articles with research on security that we publish twice a week
• an online application system for the competition's entrants
• information on our advisory services
• ... and soon an online community for security startups.

Some government backed innovation still misunderstood

The MoD’s recent move to open a "pilot centre for defence enterprise" has come under fire within the press. Evidently this new centre for incubation will be located in the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. The proximity to Cambridge and Oxford is not lost although less for university spinouts for security technologies but perhaps more for serial entrepreneurs and investors (angels and otherwise) who can get involved in growing these baby companies.

The purpose of the centre will be to bring together groups of people (investors and innovators) that have been working together in non-defense related curricula for years. The goal is to better support the UK armed forces with novel technologies and there will be inbuilt incentives for individuals, SMEs, and academics to engage with MoD.

It sounds like the MoD is really trying to think outside of the box. "We have worked hard to remove barriers to innovative concepts and change ideas," said Baroness Taylor, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support. Adding “Industry, big and small, academia, inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers and investors all have something to offer in developing the next generation of military technology. The Centre for Defence Enterprise will provide a vehicle for exposing these opportunities."

We at the Global Security Challenge are firm believers that enabling innovators will not only save money in the long term but it will make us safer. This opinion is not shared by everyone. Lewis Page of the Register argues that any time you try to foster innovation through a business environment you must somehow be greasing palms. His comments on the MOD incubator is that "these baby companies will be so flush with cash by the time they exit a government incubator that they will be the equivalent of flying pigs.”

Mr. Page is fundamentally mistaken in his assumption that governments can only muck things up. Incubators are an important part of creating and sustaining viable businesses. Your correspondent believes in the necessity of supporting security entrepreneurs particularly as they tend to face a more difficult path than others

German Government Provides €29 Million in Funding for Explosive Research

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research is providing €29 million in funding for 16 new collaborative projects for the detection of toxic and explosive substances. Altogether 73 partner entities are involved in these 16 projects, ranging from universities, scientific institutes, defense companies and the police. From what is mentioned in the ministry’s public statements it seems that unfortunately no start-ups are involved in these projects.

One interesting and potentially breakthrough technology example is the project with the easily memorable project name IRLDEX, which aims to be used against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) through a new infrared laser that takes advantage of the unique absorption rates of explosive materials. The project leaders for this invention are the renowned Fraunhofer Institut and the Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Police). Interestingly enough are the remarks of project manager Dr. Oliver Ambacher, who is thinking about future possible commercial applications of this technology for identifying food-diseases (Gammelfleisch) and pesticides in textiles. While the question arises of how to spin-off such a technology from this public-private mission, IRLDEX might become another powerful example of a technology developed firstly for security that later addresses commercial needs and earns healthy returns in the marketplace for its investors and founders.

The ministry’s other research projects focus for example on the early and reliable identification of biological pathogens that cause epidemics. They also concentrate on the detection of noxious drinking water contaminants. There are also some projects that focus on researching the use of terahertz technology in security technology applications. More information on BMBF's website