CII and MIB launch the WAVES Anti-Piracy Challenge

New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are organising the WAVES Anti-Piracy Challenge, part of the Create in India Challenges.

The challenge, aimed at safeguarding digital content, seeks to find solutions in fingerprinting and watermarking technologies. The competition received 1,296 registrations.

The challenge is part of the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, a hub-and-spoke platform featuring people from the Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector.

The event will take place from May 1 to May 4, 2025, at the Jio World Convention Centre and Jio World Gardens in Mumbai. The summit will focus on broadcasting and infotainment, with AVGC XR covering animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, extended reality, digital media and films.

The WAVES Anti-Piracy Challenge falls under the broadcasting and infotainment segment.

The objectives of the challenge include

• Provide a platform for domestic companies to showcase their solutions and gain industry recognition

• Encourage the development of novel techniques that enhance the security and traceability of digital media

• Promote practical applications that can be seamlessly integrated into existing media workflows

• Support the growth of new technologies addressing current and emerging challenges in content protection

The challenge is open to individuals, research teams, startups, and established organisations with expertise or interest in digital content security. All submissions must include a working prototype of the technology, demonstrating its core functionality and real-world application potential. A team can have a maximum of 5 members.

Submission categories include fingerprinting technologies, watermarking technologies, and solutions leveraging technologies such as blockchain, Digital Rights Management (DRM), and other content protection methods.

Evaluation will be based on innovation, effectiveness, practicality, scalability, user experience, and prototype functionality.

The registrations ran from February 4 to February 19. Idea submission was from February 4 to February 28, and idea evaluation was conducted from March 3 to March 10, 2025.

The challenge features awards and recognition, as it provides awardees coverage in industry publications and presentations at key industry conferences as well as offers potential collaboration with industry leaders and opportunities for the commercialisation of the technology.