On 18 November 2021, the annual GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security prize ceremony took place online and in the context of GCSP Innovation Day. The GCSP announced the winning results of its search to reward the most inspiring, innovative, and ground-breaking security contributions of the year.

The GCSP received a total of 113 project submissions in 2021 for the prize. After a strict evaluation process by the prize jury, with 15 shortlisted projects, the final three award recipients were selected.

The project in first place, CyberPeace Builders was submitted by the CyberPeace Institute, a Geneva-based non-governmental organisation whose mission is to enhance the stability of cyber space.

Initially tested in 2020 with institutions active in health, the CyberPeace Builders initiative was launched more widely in 2021. It brings together corporate cyber security experts who volunteer to provide free cyber security assistance to humanitarian NGOs who often lack basic cyber protection. Indeed, it is estimated that only 1 in 10 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) train staff regularly on cybersecurity. 3 out of 4 do not monitor networks, and 4 out of 5 do not have cyber security plans.

CyberPeace Builders’ objective is to assist over 1,000 NGOs worldwide by 2025.

Adrien Ogée, Chief Operating Officer of the CyberPeace Institute, declared:

"This prize is a recognition of all the incredible people that make up the CyberPeace Builders, from the NGOs who realise how critical cyber security is for their operations, to the volunteers who give their valuable time and expertise and their companies that fund the programme and finally to the Institute employees who have designed and developed this programme. We are all contributing to making cyber space a safer place."

The project in second place was Civilian Protection First: Civilian Harm Tracking in Ukraine and the Sahel. Itwas submitted by the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), a Washington, D.C. based non-profit, NGO that works on behalf of civilians in conflict zones, providing research and advocating to policymakers.

The initiative is comprised of two advanced mechanisms, the Civilian Casualties Identification, Tracking and Analysis Cell (CITAC or MISAD in French) and the Civilian Casualty Tracking Provisional Group (CCTPG). These provide solutions to better recognise, prevent, and amend civilian casualties.

CIVIC worked with the G5 Sahel Joint Force on the creation of CITAC back in 2018. The initiative was successfully launched in 2021. In Ukraine, CIVIC supported the creation of the Civilian Casualty Tracking Provisional Group (CCTPG), which analyses data on civilian harm and provides analytical reports.

The project in third place, SLAFKA: Nuclear Safeguards Powered by Blockchain, submitted by the Stimson Center in Washington DC, USA, is a first-of-its-kind prototype that uses distributed ledger technology (DLT, also known as blockchain technology) to track nuclear material at the national level. Given that many of the challenges in nuclear material accounting are fundamentally problems of data reconciliation, data integrity, and provenance, the prototype demonstrates how DLT can be used to validate data trustworthiness and increase efficiencies in reporting and information sharing. The tool was developed jointly by the Henry L. Stimson Center under the leadership of Dr Cindy Vestergaard, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

The jury for the 2021 GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security included:

• Ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano, Head of the Division for Security Policy within the Directorate of Political Affairs in Bern
• Lt General (Retd) André Blattmann, Former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces
• Ms Angela Kane, Senior Fellow at the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
• Professor Jane Royston, Entrepreneur and member of the Swiss Science Council
• Ms Lauren Anderson, Founder and CEO of LC Anderson International Consulting and former FBI Executive
• Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan, Head of the Geopolitics and Global Futures Programme at the GCSP and Honorary Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University
• Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director of the GCSP

The GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security is an annual event and will issue a call for the submission of projects for the 2022 award in Spring 2022.

Media coverage of the event:

• Cybersécurité: action pour aider les humanitaires honorée à Genève, La Liberté, 18 November 2021