In October 2022, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) contributed to a global undergraduate student competition on disinformation, organized by William & Mary’s Global Innovation Challenge (WMGIC) and Whole of Government Center of Excellence (WGC) and supported by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division. This is the second time that the CCDCOE has been involved in the competition. The 2023 student challenge brought together over 100 teams from over 50 universities to reach a total of over 400 competitors. The student teams developed solutions to disinformation in the realms of artificial intelligence, public health, gender-based violence, clean energy, climate security, Russia-Ukraine war, and terrorism. Within seven hours, teams consulted expert mentors from around the world, including subject matter experts from the CCDCOE.
The publication contains the pitches all teams presented providing practical and sound advice to NATO for responses and prevention of disinformation. These innovative ideas are worthy of public distribution and may well aid in the development of government policies and practices.
The first student competition was held in November 2021, in cooperation with NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT). The CCDCOE contributed with subject matter expert mentors, and the summary publication is available at the CCDCOE’s digital library.