The Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO), NYC Cyber Command (C3), and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), recently launched the ‘Cybersecurity Moonshot Challenge’ – a project with the goal of developing and delivering new, affordable, and scale-able solutions to protect New York City-based small and midsize business from the dangers of cyber-attacks.
The City is partnering with Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and global partners from Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Berlin, Helsinki, London, and Paris to solicit and evaluate cybersecurity proposals proposals from companies and startups.
“With the Cyber Moonshot Challenge, our goal is to find solutions designed to make New York City’s small businesses more resilient,” said Laura Anglin, deputy mayor for operations. “This moonshot is an exciting opportunity to partner with experts to drive innovation and safeguard consumer data.”
Four to eight finalists will receive an award of up to $20,000 to test their proposal in New York City along with structured support to deliver the solution into international markets. JVP has also committed an over $1 million US investment to be awarded to selected proposals to assist companies in accelerating growth in New York City.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of cities around the world and at the center of the global economy of the future,” said Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of JVP. “Unfortunately, these same companies are too frequently abandoned in their search for state-of-the-art IT and cyber security solutions. As a result, our collective aim is to help unleash a new generation of innovation and the Cyber Moonshot Challenge is an important step in that direction.”
NYCx Challenge participants can submit concepts online here with the first-round closing in early December.
