The European Defense Tech Hackathon will take place in the capital from November 6 to 9. Over 200 engineers, military personnel, foundations, and companies will work on practical anti-drone solutions in a 48-hour marathon.
The European Defense Tech Hackathon will take place in the capital from November 6 to 9. Over 200 engineers, military personnel, foundations, and companies will work on practical anti-drone solutions in a 48-hour marathon.
Asreported by «Military», the event was announced by the European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH). The event will focus on counter-drone technologies, and the tasks for the teams will be formed by Ukrainian units together with co-organizer Moodro and partner Nordic Air Defense.
The organizers explain the goal simply: to attract as many talented people as possible to the defense industry and accelerate the path from idea to working prototype. The program includes lectures, workshops, mentoring sessions and final demo presentations. Teams will receive real cases from the military: target detection and classification, interference-resistant communication channels, autonomous navigation, integration of sensors and software for intercepting «shaheeds» and other UAVs.
EDTH emphasizes that after more than two dozen events in 15 European countries, Kyiv was the logical next stop, bringing together people with practical combat experience and an understanding of how systems should work on the front. Engineers and developers, as well as product managers, designers, production and testing specialists, can participate. The teams are looking for solutions that can actually be brought to small-scale production.
For investors and partners, the hackathon is an opportunity to see live projects at an early stage, evaluate teams, and agree on piloting. A special emphasis is placed on quick feedback from the military: participants will be able to immediately check what exactly needs to be improved so that the prototypes withstand field conditions and are compatible with current systems.
It is a network of events and communities that connects startups, defense institutions and industry in the European deftech sector. Its mission is to attract new talent, accelerate innovation and build partnerships that turn prototypes into serial solutions. Holding the hackathon in Kyiv is a recognition of the role of Ukrainian expertise in defense technologies: it is here that approaches are born, which are then scaled up in Europe — from unmanned systems and electronic warfare to software for detecting and intercepting targets.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how three European teams proved the effectiveness of solutions for intercepting enemy UAVs in Ukraine in the finals of the NATO Innovation Challenge hackathon. The final tests will be held in late October.
