"George Mason University Hackathon Winners Unveil Solutions to Fight Global Counterfeiting"
The winners of the 2022 Bring Down Counterfeiting Public Policy Hackathon, held November 5 at the Homeland Security Investigations Innovation Lab in Arlington, were announced by George Mason University's Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). The event in which US and international academic institutions, companies, and other affiliations participated, presented the challenge of developing innovative ideas to improve public-private collaborations in the face of the industry-wide global challenge of counterfeiting. For over two decades, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), in collaboration with industry and brand owners, has led the effort in the government's Intellectual Property (IP) theft prevention response and has played a significant role in policing the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods on websites, social media, and eCommerce marketplaces. One of 11 teams in the final, Team Hypercube, won the $20,000 first prize for its concept of a national counterfeiting index via an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered blockchain that would allow federal, state, and local law enforcement to share information as well as consumers to verify the authenticity of a product through their phones. Team Nimbus took second place and $15,000 for proposing the development of a Chrome extension that can prevent the consumption of counterfeit medicine by focusing on counterfeit pharmacies. A-Capp Team #1 proposed creating a central database to help law enforcement and private businesses track individuals and factories that manufacture or sell counterfeit items. The Spartan Solution won the $5,000 student prize for demonstrating a cipher-based solution to combat counterfeit listings on eCommerce sites before they reach consumers. The $2,000 crowd source prize went to Team G.I.N., which detailed the creation of a network accessible via QR code that will allow everyone to differentiate between genuine and counterfeit goods. The submissions were scored by an expert panel of judges based on their potential impact, scalability, creativity, and design. This article continues to discuss the winning proposed solutions of the 2022 Bring Down Counterfeiting Public Policy Hackathon.