Ukraine hosted the Precision Hackathon, aimed at creating technological solutions that will help the Security and Defense Forces perform operations with increased accuracy.

According to Militarnyi, the hackathon was organized by the Brave1 defense tech cluster.

The event brought together more than 400 innovators, as well as more than 500 representatives of government agencies, the Security and Defense Forces, manufacturing companies, businesses, investment funds, and other participants in the defense innovation ecosystem.

The first day of the hackathon began with a large-scale conference covering such topics as the role of technology in modern warfare, the use of technological solutions at the frontline, the development of the Ukrainian defense tech industry, the procurement of defense innovations for the army, and attracting investment in the development of defense tech developments.

Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Strategic Industries spoke about the peculiarities of the state policy on defense tech development, while a representative of the General Staff and the military, who use technological solutions on the frontline, emphasized the real technological needs of the Armed Forces.

Discussing the development of the defense tech industry, Ukrainian developers spoke about the formation of powerful markets in the areas of UAVs, ground robotic systems, and electronic warfare, as well as the increasingly high quality of solutions that are constantly tested in combat conditions.

A special focus of the conversation was the growing role of AI in defense innovation, especially in UAV and robot navigation and weapon systems.

Technological solutions

As part of the discussion on defense procurement, the leadership of the State Service for Special Communications, the Defense Procurement Agency, Prozorro, the Kyiv RMA, and the Come Back Alive Foundation emphasized that technological solutions have become one of the priorities of procurement and their importance will only grow.

In addition, representatives of Ukrainian and foreign investment funds shared their experience investing in the Ukrainian defense tech industry.

During the second and third days of the hackathon, more than 60 Ukrainian teams were developing solutions in the following areas:

• advanced guidance systems;
• sensor integration and data analysis;
• smart munitions;
• simulators and training software;
• autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, and network-centered warfare.

The teams were assisted by professional mentors, including military officers, scientists, and defense technology experts, in developing their solutions.

The participants’ projects were evaluated by a professional jury consisting of representatives of the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Strategic Industry, the military, engineers, scientists, investors, businesses, and NGO representatives.

48 teams presented their projects to the jury. Based on the results of the evaluation, 12 teams became the finalists of the hackathon.

They received a cash prize that can be used to further develop their solution project presented at the Hackathon.

On the fourth day of the hackathon, participants with high-level prototypes were able to test their solutions on the testing ground.