Global Security Challenge - Final in London

November 13, London – the Final Summit of the Global Security Challenge 2009. The meeting was held in London Business School, Regent's Park, London, UK. APSTEC's innovation technology was awarded with the second place prize. The meeting was covered by Peter Walker, “The Guardian”:

"... Global Security Challenge (GSC) - a sort of Dragons' Den for the James Bond world – is officially a way for companies hawking new security and anti-terrorism devices to compete for funding. Here, they get to network furiously with investors and bigwigs from potential clients in the Pentagon and Ministry of Defence as well as private industry. But for the outside observer, the main attraction at London Business School was the sheer innovation of some the ideas on offer. Opening the event, Gordon Brown's chief security adviser, Robert Hannigan, referred to "an arms race with terrorists". If so, this was the technological frontline…

The suicide bomb scanner
Another tiny start-up, this one formed by a group of Russian nuclear scientists, Apstec claims to have made a prototype microwave device able to scan a crowd of people at once and pinpoint any bombs, be they carried in bags or on someone's body. Expect to see these – or rather not see them, as the scanning can be done covertly – at stations and sports stadiums soon...

It turns out that I clearly know less than the judges, who awarded the two prizes (for a start-up and a more established, growing company) elsewhere: to an Israeli firm that has developed an ultra-hi-tech panoramic CCTV, and to a British company that makes an airport scanner for liquids. ("It can tell the orange juice from the hydrogen peroxide.") Another interesting point is that, however booming the sector, many of these firms are still struggling to raise capital amid the current tough credit conditions. If you're a canny investor you could do worse, as John S Morgan from the Pentagon's counter-terrorism office noted:
There's no doubt that the international security market is going to increase enormously over the next five to 10 years. Governments all over the world are investing in this. These companies to represent a unique investment opportunity because of that".

Peter Walker, The Guardian.

Read the full article.