The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency announced the winners of a cyber innovation challenge on April 4.
This second annual Defence Innovation Challenge aims to accelerate technology solutions from small business and academia in support of NATO C4ISR and cyber capabilities. The top 10 innovators and their technologies include:
- Norway’s Radionor Communications for long range wireless communications, resilient terrestrial long-range or rapidly deployable, scalable IT infrastructure;
- Canada’s Larus Technologies Corporation for service management automation and analytics;
- Germany’s Aditerna GmbH for rapidly deployable and scalable IT infrastructure;
- -based SpyCloud for cloud security and service management automation and analytics;
- Alessandro Busachi of Cranfield University, UK for rapidly deployable, scalable IT infrastructure;
- Denmark’s Dencrypt A/S for rapidly deployable, scalable IT infrastructure;
- Canad’as OMX Inc. for eProcurement services;
- Sweden’s Saab Denmark for secure voice interoperability between multiple security classification levels;
- The UK’s Oxford BioChronometrics for cyber security: sensors, analytics, visualization; and
- The Netherlands’s iDelft BV for eProcurement services.
The NCI Agency received 48 total proposals from small businesses and academia of 12 Allies. Small businesses and academia from all 28 member states were invited to submit proposals in ten focus areas of critical importance to NATO’s mission. The areas include cyber security: sensors, analytics, visualization; the Internet of Things (IoT): Public Protection and Disaster Relief in a Smart City, Federation of IoT communities, analytics for trust and skepticism in IoT data; Long range wireless communications: Low-cost satellite communication services for remote IoT devices, satellite communication services for polar regions, resilient terrestrial long-range communication services; Service management automation and analytics: big data, business intelligence and cognitive analytics, proactive event management; Rapidly deployable, scalable IT infrastructure; Software defined networks; Cloud security; Secure voice interoperability, secure voice bridges; Security-accredited containerization; and eProcurement services.
Technology of the top finishers is set to be showcased at the 2017 NCI Agency Conference and AFCEA TechNet International (NITEC17) event: ‘’Sharpening NATO’s Technological Edge: Adaptive Partnerships and the Innovative Power of Alliance Industry.’ The conference will occur from April 24-26 in Ottawa, Canada.
“This challenge affirms that the cutting edge technology we need to stay ahead of emerging threats is out there, and we are committed to finding innovative ways to connect with the small businesses and academic institutions that lack visibility within NATO but have much to offer the Alliance,” NCI Agency general manager Koen Gijsbers, said in a statement.