George Mason's TraCCC Fight Counterfeiters with Second Annual Hackthon

Bring Down Counterfeiting 2023 Hackathon

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- George Mason University's Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center is gearing up to host a second annual Bring Down Counterfeiting Hackathon "Demo Day" on Saturday, November 4 at GMU's Arlington Campus. Organized by Blue Clarity, the hackathon event brings academia, government, private sector, and techies together to brainstorm novel solutions to fight counterfeiting and protect intellectual property rights. Hackathon participants have spent weeks devising innovative technical solutions that combat the sale of counterfeit products on e-commerce sites and social media, support government agencies in this fight, or help protect IP rights holders. Final submissions are due October 29, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST.

Select teams will demonstrate their solutions for an expert panel of judges on Demo Day. Judges include subject matter experts from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private sector. The Grand Prize of $20,000 will be awarded on Demo Day to the team with the best solution. A $10,000 student prize will also be awarded, as will a $10,000 follow-on research project award sponsored by the Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA), an academic consortium led by George Mason University and DHS Center of Excellence.

Those interested in watching the event can register to attend as an Observer on the event website: https://www.expeditionhacks.com/bring-down-counterfeiting-2023.

Christine Jung, president of Blue Clarity states, "Technology has played a significant role in the production, distribution and proliferation of counterfeit goods. We'd like to see it more powerfully leveraged to combat this crime. What we have seen in all of our social impact hackathons with an anti-crime angle is that criminals are endlessly agile and resourceful. Fighting them takes multilateral, multidisciplinary teams that know how to combine their strengths to build effective solutions. We are thrilled to work again this year with the amazing people at TraCCC to take on the challenge of combating counterfeiting."

This hackathon is being sponsored by more than a dozen additional partners. Winners will be announced on November 4 on the hackathon event page.

ABOUT TraCCC:
The Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) is the first center in the United States devoted to understanding the links among terrorism, transnational crime and corruption, and to teach, research, train, and help formulate policy on these critical issues. TraCCC is a research center within the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

ABOUT BLUE CLARITY:
Blue Clarity's hackathons use data and technology to inspire people to make a social impact. The hackathon series helps government agencies, academia, and industry to drive open innovation for products, platforms, and portfolios by connecting them to the genius, scale, and speed of our hacker community.

SOURCE Blue Clarity, LLC