CYD proof of concept Fellowships are awarded for a duration of 12 months and proposed projects should deliver a proof of concept at the conclusion of the award period. The fellowship aims to support applied research leading towards an innovative product or service with the intention of making a real impact and evaluating the potential for commercialization of such products or services.
Applicants should seek to address some of the most challenging research, market and translational issues in cyber-defence. They must demonstrate that their project can significantly influence security and data science research as well as market fields, and/or have significant impact on Swiss cyber-defence.
CYD proof of concept Fellowships are open to applicants who want to become entrepreneurs in the field of cyber-defence.
Projects must include an innovation in at least one of the following areas of cyber-defence:
- Protection of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cyber and cyber-physical systems.
- Information sharing, data fusion and crowdsourcing.
- Data science & AI methods for analysing cyber- and technology-relevant data.
- Security, privacy and digital trust technologies.
- Citizens of any nationality may apply for CYD proof of concept Fellowships.
- No age restrictions apply.
- Applicants must be pursuing or holding bachelor, master or doctoral degrees recognized in Switzerland.
- CYD proof of concept fellows should be hosted by a Swiss higher education research center, their own startup based in Switzerland or at EPFL Innovation Park.
A maximum amount of CHF 130’000 can be requested per application. This can cover personnel and/or development costs directly related to the realisation of the project.
Please refer to the application guidelines to find out what costs are considered eligible.
Please read carefully the application guidelines. All required documents must be submitted on the online submission platform.
All documents must be submitted in English.
Please do not hesitate to contact the Research Office to discuss your potential application or for any further assistance.
Rolling call for applications.
The selection process includes two stages.
In Stage 1, the submitted applications will be evaluated by a CYD Campus internal committee based on the following criteria: the fit of the candidate with the CYD Campus and the fit of the candidate’s pre-proposal with the aims of the program.
Shortlisted applicants will be assigned a prospective CYD Campus mentor who will interview the applicant. Only applicants who are endorsed by their prospective CYD Campus mentor will be able to proceed to Stage 2.
In Stage 2, endorsed applicants will need to submit a full proposal.
Final decisions will be made by a committee chaired by the Director of the CYD Campus and composed of members representing the CYD Campus, Swiss higher education institutions and innovation sectors.