Open Innovation challenges

6 CHALLENGES FOR ADVANCED CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS

Fondazione SERICS – Security and Rights in CyberSpace has launched an Open Innovation (OI) programme, structured around six challenges identified through an assessment of the operational and strategic cybersecurity needs of major Italian operators working in the market’s key sectors.

The solutions are aimed at leading players in the financial and banking services sectors, as well as in the logistics and industrial sectors, including companies with global operations or those in critical sectors such as energy, aerospace and defence.

WHO CAN JOIN: THE ALLOWED “PROBLEM-SOLVERS”

This initiative is aimed exclusively at the SERICS research ecosystem to ensure the high quality and reliability of the technology transfer process.
The following may participate as “problem-solvers”:

  • Research teams comprising lecturers, researchers, PhD students and research associates affiliated with universities and public research bodies that are partners of SERICS.
  • Spin-off companies from universities and public research bodies that are partners of SERICS, recognised in accordance with existing regulations.

THE SIX CHALLENGES

These challenges pose significant risks to the resilience and competitiveness of domestic operators:

  • Cybersecurity & Digital Transformation in Banking: Focused on cloud and mobile solutions in the financial sector. We are seeking automated defence solutions, explainable decision-support tools (for risk governance), models for detecting cognitive fraud, and post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Text of the Call for applications
  • Simple Security: The aim is to optimise data and transaction security in high-impact services (financial and logistics) whilst ensuring a fast and seamless user experience. The focus is on data and transaction security, simplified authentication and privacy mechanisms, and combating digital and cognitive fraud that psychologically manipulates customers. Text of the call for applications
  • Maritime Cybersecurity: On-board anomaly detection: innovative solutions for the timely detection of anomalous behaviour and cyber threats on shipboard IT and OT systems, including in multi-vessel and multi-fleet contexts, utilising diverse data sources from the maritime domain, and employing non-invasive methods that are compatible with legacy systems and capable of balancing accuracy and timeliness. Text of the call for applications
  • Smart vulnerability management in the industrial sector: The aim is to reduce the economic and operational impact of risk mitigation measures on large-scale infrastructure. The challenge focuses on proposing a prioritisation algorithm that strikes a well-founded balance between the cost of intervention and the residual risk. Text of the call for applications
  • Advanced management of corporate browser plug-ins: the challenge is to reduce the risk of security incidents caused by browser add-ons used by thousands of employees in large industrial organisations. The solution must enable the identification and categorisation of plug-ins, as well as the activation of scanning, monitoring and selective removal systems. Text of the call for applications
  • Security of industrial IoT systems: Aimed at large companies operating in critical industrial sectors (energy, aerospace, defence). The aim is to identify modular and scalable cybersecurity solutions for protecting sensors, actuators and critical automation systems, ensuring interoperability and ease of management in distributed and mission-critical environments. Text of the call for applications

APPLICATION DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES

Interested “Solvers” can apply by filling in this online module.

SERICS will approve the application and provide additional information (“Challenge Kit”) to the eligible participants.

The proposed solution must be uploaded to a dedicated platform by 25 November.

The proposal must include a written document setting out:

  • Problem definition: a brief description including details of the context, impact and significance of the specific problem being addressed.
  • Solution proposal: how problem can be solved, a description of the proposed solution, expected results / feasibility (3-month outlook, long-term outlook). Report, presentation/slides, prototype, if any.
  • Intellectual property: IP rights (patents, know-how) used.

The solver may make additional information or technical material available.

The proposals will be assessed by a panel appointed by SERICS’s Technical and Scientific Committee and Innovation Board, with the participation of businesses that match the profile of the challenge target audience.

BENEFITS OF THE SELECTED SOLUTIONS:
ACCESS TO INDUSTRIAL PILOT PROJECTS AND PoCs

The most promising solutions will be discussed in an ad hoc workshop, at the end of which the winners will be selected. They will then have access to further opportunities for pilot projects and proof of concept (PoC) in collaboration with the operators involved in the selection process and the industrial partners of the SERICS Innovation Board.

SERICS will also provide visibility at dedicated events (such as ITASEC 2026) and specialist consultancy support from the Technology Transfer Team, including market analysis, patent analysis and contractual advice. 

The winning teams will have the opportunity to take part in a visiting programme at INNOVIT, the Italian Innovation Hub in San Francisco. 

An opportunity to showcase your innovative projects on the international stage and connect with the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

Would you like to transform your idea into a gamechanger for the industry?

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Apply and take the challenge

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