The government on Wednesday launched the ‘Cyber Security Grand Challenge 2.0’ (CSGC 2.0) with a total prize money of ₹6.85 crore, more than doubling the amount from ₹3.2 crore in the first edition.

The initiative will provide mentorship, capability-building and market access to innovators, startups and budding entrepreneurs, aligning with the goals of Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat.

A unique feature, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the product being developed as part of the challenge, will be owned by the respective startup.

The whole process of ‘CSGC 2.0’ will run under various stages wherein mentorship will be provided at each stage, said MeitY.

“The Cyber Security Grand Challenge 2.0 is a major government-backed initiative with a significant amount of prize money of ₹6.85 crore and a focus on recognising startups offering innovative cybersecurity solutions,” said S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY.

Under the Grand Challenge, participants need to create solutions around six defined problem statement areas.

Registration are now open till February 14, for innovative solutions in API Security, Data Protection, Wearable Privacy, Clone App Mitigation, AI Threat Detection, and Biometric Security.

“I hope the participants and winners will lead change and bring out home grown innovative security solutions to empower India’s digital journey,” he added.

The challenge features an additional stage, the ‘Go-to-Market’ stage, in addition to three stages namely Idea, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Final Product Stage.

It expands the scope of recognition by qualifying six startups for each problem statement at the Idea Stage, resulting in a total of 36 startups recognised in the early stage receiving ₹5 lakh each, and 18 startups receiving ₹10 lakh each at the Minimum Viable Product stage.

At the Final Stage, winners will be declared for each of the 6 problem statements receiving ₹25 lakh each.

“After the Go-to-Market Stage, which is the final stage of the Grand Challenge, the Platinum Winner will receive a prize of ₹1 crore, whereas Gold Winner and Silver Winner will receive ₹50 lakh and ₹25 lakh respectively,” said the ministry.

Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY, said, “We need continuous innovation to combat emerging threats, especially with the advent of new technologies like AI and quantum computing to enhance cyber security capabilities of the nation. We hope that the Cyber Security Grand Challenge 2.0 will serve as a momentum to ideate and innovate cutting-edge solutions.

Vinayak Godse, CEO, DSCI, said, “We thank MeitY for hosting the Cyber Security Grand Challenge 2.0 and increasing the prize money to foster innovation. The support of government bodies, PSUs, and industry experts has been crucial in shaping the challenge and its problem statements.”