Special call for cybersecurity startups

Objectives

This special call seeks to:

• Support early stage/pre-seed cybersecurity startups in advancing innovative products or services
• Foster industry–academia collaboration in applied cybersecurity research and development
• Address pressing cybersecurity challenges faced by organizations, governments, and society
• Strengthen the local and international cybersecurity innovation ecosystem

Priority areas

Projects may address, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Threat detection, monitoring, and incident response
• Secure cloud, edge, and distributed systems
• AI-driven cybersecurity and adversarial AI defense
• Privacy-enhancing technologies and data protection
• Identity, access management, and authentication
• Security for critical infrastructure, IoT, and industrial systems
• Compliance, risk management, and cyber resilience tools

Eligibility

• All students currently enrolled in the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science are eligible to apply for Phase 1
• Teams that proceed to Phase 2 must have at least one member who is a current Gina Cody School student.
• If external co-applicants are included in the application, they are required to support their activities through their own funding.
• Multi-disciplinary teams with complementary skills and backgrounds are strongly encouraged.
• Diverse teams that include members of underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged.  
• Faculty members, staff members and external parties may serve as advisors to teams but are not entitled to use monies from the Gina Cody School Student Innovation Fund.
• Teams that are recipients of other sources of funding for the same scope of work (e.g., research grants or contracts) are not eligible.

Evaluation criteria

The submitted dossiers will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Innovation potential and technical differentiation
• Feasibility
• Cybersecurity relevance/impact
• Societal or security implications
• Market and competition knowledge
• Business and financial model
• Team fit and qualifications
• Growth potential, scalability, and defensibility

Teams will be called in for an interview/presentation with the selection committee to discuss their innovation before a final decision is made.

Funding and support

Selected projects will receive:

• Non-dilutive funding up to $10,000 to support R&D, prototyping, validation, or pilot deployments for up to six months
• Access to faculty expertise and research infrastructure
• Increased visibility within academic, industrial, entrepreneurial, and public-sector networks

Project scope and duration

• Typical project duration of Phase 1: 6 months
• Projects should demonstrate clear technical objectives, feasibility, and potential impact
• Commercial relevance and a credible path to market are strongly encouraged

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The Innovation Fund is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystem and strongly encourages applications from individuals and teams from equity-deserving and underrepresented groups.