The finalists of the Anti-Piracy Challenge, a pioneering initiative under the Create in India Challenge Season 1 of WAVES (World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit) 2025, have been announced.

The Anti-Piracy Challenge, which aimed at fostering technological advancements in fingerprinting and watermarking solutions, received an overwhelming response from the industry and participants, an official government statement said.

Launched on September 12, 2024, the Challenge was conceived with a core objective  to promote Make in India technologies in the fight against digital piracy. The challenge witnessed participation with over 1,600 registrations and 132 idea submissions from startups, technology providers, research institutions and students across the country.

After a rigorous multi-stage screening and evaluation process, 15 ideas were shortlisted, and now, following in-depth assessments by an esteemed jury panel, seven standout finalists have emerged for their breakthrough innovations in digital content security.

The top seven finalists will present their solutions before the final jury and a live audience during the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, scheduled to be held in Mumbai from May 1-4.

The highlights of the challenge included the following:

# Focus on advanced technologies such as fingerprinting, watermarking, blockchain and steganography.

# Diverse participation from startups, students, and technology innovators; judged by a distinguished jury comprising industry experts and technologists.

# Winning solutions to receive national recognition, mentorship, and industry collaboration opportunities.

# In today’s fast-evolving media and entertainment landscape, protecting the security, integrity and authenticity of digital content is more important than ever. The surge in digital media consumption has heightened the risk of piracy, unauthorized distribution, and content manipulation—posing serious challenges to content creators, distributors, and rights holders.

A Media Partners Asia report estimates that 90 million users engaged in online video piracy in India in 2024, causing potential losses of USD 1.2 billion. Without effective robust anti-piracy interventions, this could rise to 158 million users by 2029.

Rights holders and broadcasters increasingly rely on technological solutions to identify, disrupt,   and enforce their IP rights. However, criminal syndicates behind major piracy sites and services are continually adapting and obfuscating their infrastructure, making piracy detection and enforcement more complex than ever before.

The Challenge organized by CII as part of WAVES was supported by IPHouse, Tata Consultancy Services, and Hack2Skill, who have played a pivotal role in the evaluation process and in facilitating industry engagement throughout the challenge.