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Press Release | Sept. 24, 2014

Winners Announced: Explosive Remnants of War and Land Mine Reporting Apps Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Samuel Bendett
Center for Technology and National Security Policy
National Defense University

(Washington, DC) The National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) is pleased to announce the winners for the Explosive Remnants of War and Land Mine Reporting Apps Challenge.  Each year, a large number of civilians are killed and injured by unexploded weapons such as artillery shells, mortars, grenades, bombs and rocks. These explosive remnants of war (ERW) regularly disrupt daily civilian life in current war and conflict zones.  To combat the problem, the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) at the National Defense University (NDU) challenged developers to come up with a mechanism to keep “eyes on the street” and transform ordinary citizen’s mobile devices into tools that can be used to report ERW and land mines to the appropriate authorities. 

The CTNSP ERW and Land Mine Reporting Apps Challenge first place winner and recipient of a $3,000 cash award was Channel 16 - Land Mine Reporting (LMR), which reports suspicious findings with text, photos, or audio messages, and alerts other users nearby. In second place with a $1,500 cash award is Flare which allows 2G, SMS based mine reporting at a very low cost.  Finally, in third place with a $500 cash prize was ERW Detector which helps detect and report explosive remnants of war.

CTNSP is a Department of Defense-funded think tank that conducts research and analysis on emerging trends in science and technology, strategic forecasting, and program assessment.  The Center divides these efforts into five distinct lines of operation: Advanced Education Initiative, Civil Military Affairs Integration (CMAI), Emerging Challenges, Life Sciences, Science and Technology.  In support of its mission, the Center delivers technical studies, program reviews, workshops, electronic data products, inter-agency exercises, expert consultation, and a variety of outreach activities.  For more information on the CTNSP ERW and Land Mine Reporting Apps Challenge, please contact Samuel Bendett at 202 433 5235 or samuel.bendett@ndu.edu.

NDU is the premier national security institution focused on advanced joint education, leader development, and scholarship.  The University provides rigorous Joint Professional Military Education to members of the U.S. armed forces and select others in order to develop leaders who have the ability to operate and creatively think in an unpredictable and complex world.  For more information about NDU, please contact:  Mark Phillips at (202) 685-3140.