The Third Biennial Combating Terrorism Technology Startup Challenge (CTTSC3)



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Overview
Thanks to all the speakers, judges, audience members, exhibitors, and most especially startups who helped make CTTSC3 such a success!
- Over 200 startups entered the $220K startup contest, including companies from virtually every continent and technology domain.
- Over 800 people attended our innovation day, where they heard from former US Senator Joe Lieberman, Deputy Minister and best-selling author Michael Oren, Major Generals (Res) Amos Yadlin and Isaac Ben Israel, International Program Manager, U.S. Department of Defense, CTTSO, Adam Tarsi, Editor in Chief of the MIT Technology Review Gideon Lichfield, and a slate of other security, business, and technology luminaries, as well as pitches by the year’s hottest counter-terrorism and security startups.
- 40 breakthrough innovations exhibited and demonstrated at the innovation pavilion and simulated urban environment test-bed.
CTTSC3, a joint initiative of the US Department of Defense (CTTSO), the Israel Ministry of Defense (MAFAT), and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel, identifies and rewards the startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators worldwide that are driving the next breakthroughs in technology for combating terrorism.
Congratulations to CardioScale and Colugo who won the $100,000 first prize and $10,000 second prize respectively in the General Technologies track, and to Elbit and TrekAce our $100,000 first prize and $10,000 second prize winners in the Navigation Technologies track.
Stay tuned for more updates on our winners and finalists and we look forward to seeing you at CTTSC4!
Terrorism is a constantly evolving worldwide threat. As terrorists become more sophisticated, so too must the tools for detecting, preventing, and defeating them.
CTTSC3 merges the dynamism and innovation of the startup ecosystem, and the experience and resources of the US and Israeli defense establishments, to deliver the next generation of game-changing technologies for combating terror.
CTTSC3 follows on the success of our inaugural CTTSC1 and CTTSC2 both of which identified and accelerated a number of promising combating terrorism breakthroughs across a variety of technology domains.
The CTTSC contest is open to any startup, entrepreneur, developer, or researcher, in any field, with a breakthrough technology that can help fight terrorism.
Benefits:
- 2 X $100K 1st prizes + 2 X $10K 2nd prizes (Prizes are no-strings-attached)
- Sponsored travel to demonstrate in Israel
- Complimentary spots at the Merage HLS Seminar
- Extensive exposure across the US and Israeli Governments
200+ startups from 19 countries entered round 1.
23 finalists were selected to compete for the $220,000 prizes. General Technology finalists presented live at the CTTSC Conference and Innovation Day, while Navigation Track finalists were put through their paces in live technology trials in a simulated urban environment.
The Conference and Innovation Day also featured
- Senator Joe Lieberman
- Ambassador Michael Oren
- Maj. Gen. (Res) Amos Yadlin
- Brig. Gen. (Res) Danny Gold
- Yoram Schweitzer
- Gideon Lichfield
- and a slate of other technology, investment, security, and counter-terrorism luminaries.
Along with a juried expo and demos of 40 selected startups working on some of the most challenging and critical unsolved problems in the combating terrorism landscape.
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Conference and Demo Day
The Finals, Conference, and Startup Exhibition
The CTTSC3 Innovation Day was the largest yet, sold out days before the event and with close to 800 attending.
Innovation Day included:
- The finals of the $220K Combating Terrorism Technology Startup Challenge – the 10 General Technologies Track finalists, pitched live for the $100,000 and $10,000 1st and 2nd prizes.
- A High-level conference on trends in terrorism, counter-terrorism, technology, and the opportunities for startups to put it all together.
- A juried expo of 40 breakthrough innovations for combating terrorism (both cyber and physical).
The speaker panel featured Joe Lieberman, Michael Oren, Amos Yadlin, and a slate of other technology, business, and security luminaries. For full agenda click the button.



Contest
Over 200 companies from 19 countries entered CTTSC3. This is double the number that applied to CTTSC2 and five times the number that applied to our inaugural CTTSC1.
The entrants were evaluated by a panel of 80 experts from the US Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and the Israel Ministries of Defense and Internal Security.
10 entrants from the General Technologies Track, and 13 from the Urban Navigation Technologies Track were selected as finalists.
The General Technologies Track finalists pitched “live” at the Innovation Day and had in-depth close-door interviews with the judging panel.
> CardioScale won the $100,000 first prize for their automatic triage device for mass-casualty events, and
> Colugo won the $10,000 runners-up prize for their breakthrough loose-wing drone innovation.
The Urban Navigation Technologies Track finalists conducted live technology trials at the Urban Navigation Festival, held in a secure simulated urban environment in southern Israel. Prizes were based on system performance in a simulated operation.
> Elbit Systems Land & C4I navigated their way to the $100,000 first prize with their SmarTrack solution, and
> TrekAce Technologies and their hands-free intuitive navigation system took the $10,000 runner-up prize.
Congratulations to our four prize-winners and to all the CTTSC3 finalists!

Any technological breakthrough for preventing terrorism or mitigating its effects.

Technologies that enable counter-terrorism operators to navigate without access to GPS.
Speakers
Gideon Lichfield
Gideon Lichfield has been the editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review since December 2017. He spent 16 years at The Economist, first as a science and technology writer and then in postings to Mexico City, Moscow, Jerusalem, and New York City. In 2012 he left to become one of the founding editors of Quartz, a site for global economic and business news that is now widely recognized as one of the most innovative companies in digital media. Gideon has taught journalism at New York University and been a fellow at Data & Society, a research institute devoted to studying the social impacts of new technology. He grew up in the UK and studied physics and the philosophy of science.

Gideon Lichfield
Editor-in-Chief MIT Technology Review
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
Dr. Michael Oren
Dr. Michael Oren is the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, where he is also a Special Envoy. His responsibilities include strengthening Israel’s ties with friendly nations, and developing ties with countries that have expressed interest in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. He is charged with advancing Israel’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations where it relates to economic and national security projects. Deputy Minister Oren also works closely with the international community in order to combat delegitimization and defend diplomatic attacks against the country.
Deputy Minister Michael Oren is a member of Knesset for the Kulanu party. He served on the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Constitutional Committees and headed initiatives to improve Israel’s public diplomacy and fight BDS. He chaired the Special Sub-Committee on Foreign Relations that dealt with Israel’s most sensitive international issues.
From early 2009 to the end of 2013, Dr. Oren served as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States. He was instrumental in obtaining US defense aid, especially for the Iron Dome system, and American loan guarantees for Israel’s economy. He built bridges with diverse communities across the nation, wrote dozens of op-eds and conducted hundreds of media interviews, strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance.
A graduate of Princeton and Columbia, Dr. Oren was a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown. He holds four honorary doctorates and was named Statesman of the Year by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. His last three books–Six Days of War, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, and Ally: My Journal Across the American-Israel Divide–were all New York Times bestsellers. He received the Los Angeles Times History Book of the Year Award, a National Humanities prize, and the Jewish Book Award.
Raised in New Jersey, Michael Oren made aliya in the 1970s, was an emissary to Jewish refuseniks in the Soviet Union and a gold medal-winning athlete in the Maccabiah Games. He served as a Lone Soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, as a paratrooper in the First Lebanon War and, as IDF Spokesman, as an officer in the Second Lebanon War and the Cast Lead campaign in Gaza. He remains active in efforts to assist Lone Soldiers in Israel.
Michael Oren was named by Politico as one of the fifty most influential thinkers in America, by the Forward as one of the five most influential Jews in America, and by the Jerusalem Post as one of the ten most influential Jews worldwide.

Dr. Michael Oren
Deputy Minister Prime Minister’s Office
Adam Tarsi
Mr. Adam Tarsi is the International Program Manager of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) which executes the international and interagency research and development program to combat terrorism.
Mr. Tarsi has oversight of all technical and programmatic execution of the CTTSO international relationships and projects.
In addition, Mr. Tarsi manages formal bilateral relationships with Australia, Canada, Israel, Singapore, and the United Kingdom as well as working relations with NATO and international non-governmental organizations.

Adam Tarsi
International Program Manager Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO)
Major General (rat.) Amos Yadlin
Major General (ret.) Amos Yadlin has been the Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel’s leading strategic Think Tank, since November 2011.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin was designated Minister of Defense of the Zionist Union Party in the March 2015 elections.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin served for over 40 years in the Israel Defense Forces, nine of which as a member of the IDF General Staff. From 2006-2010, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin served as the IDF’s chief of Defense Intelligence. From 2004-2006, he served as the IDF attaché to the United States. In February 2002, he earned the rank of major general and was named commander of the IDF Military Colleges and the National Defense College.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin, a former deputy commander of the Israel Air Force, has commanded two fighter squadrons and two airbases. He has also served as Head of IAF Planning Department (1990-1993). He accumulated about 5,000 flight hours and flew more than 250 combat missions behind enemy lines. He participated in the Yom Kippur War (1973), Operation Peace for Galilee (1982) and Operation Tamuz – the destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq (1981).
Yadlin holds a B.A. in economics and business administration from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (1985). He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1994).

Major General (rat.) Amos Yadlin
Director, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Tel Aviv University
In the Media
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Partners and Sponsors




Key Dates

Friday January 19
$220,000 Startup Challenge opens

Sunday February 25 (optional)
If you are in Israel, join us for the "How to Win" meetup at Oracle Accelerator, Sarona Market at 18:00

Friday March 16
Deadline for $220,000 Startup Challenge entries

Monday May 28
Finalists announced

Sunday June 17
CTTSC3 conference, $220,000 Startup Challenge Finals, and Combating Terrorism Innovation Exhibition

Sunday October 21
Urban Navigation Festival (for Track 2 Finalists)

Thursday October 25
Track 2 winners announced, and close of CTTSC3