European Defense Tech brought engineers together for the first time for a hackathon for the front lines in Ukraine

On May 22-25, Lviv hosted the European Defense Tech Hackathon, the first event of its kind in Ukraine organized by the European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH). 

In addition to the event’s debut in Ukraine, it was distinguished by the participation of mentors from the Ukrainian military.

That is why, unlike previous events, the organizers managed to create a direct bridge between the needs on the battlefield and those who directly require certain solutions, with teams representing not only Europe.

The European Defense Tech Hub was held in partnership with the 3rd Assault Brigade, AB3 TECH, Women in Defense Tech, DroneAid, Inflection, with the support of key partner Quantum Systems and leading technology partners: D3 VC, NUNC Capital, ARX Robotics, OKO Camera.

Over 150 engineers from across Europe and beyond worked alongside Ukrainian military personnel to co-develop technologies aimed at giving Ukraine a battlefield edge.

“We gave them challenges that were based on the problems in our units. Assault units, reconnaissance, FPV, UGV, radar, etc. They all have certain problems, they formed teams and chose issues for themselves,” one of the organizers from the 3rd Assault Brigade told Militarnyi.

Many of the participants arrived with their own teams, while others established them on the first day of the event, after finding like-minded people.

Militarnyi journalists met with one of these teams, where two participants are old friends from Lviv, and at the event they met like-minded people from Vinnytsia and Germany. They found out about the event through completely different channels: some through press releases in specialized media for programmers, others through one of the popular Telegram channels.

Although their interests can be generalized as IT, they were united by a desire to put their theoretical knowledge into practice in the interests of Ukraine’s defense.

They chose tasks related to countering air threats by drones from Quantum Systems. This is a growing challenge on the battlefield — anti-aircraft drones, in which Ukraine has become a pioneer, but the Russians are actively learning from our experience and implementing it themselves.

“There were about 10 challenges from Quantum Systems. All of them are related to radio, artificial intelligence, and FPV detection. We also expected that there would be design engineers here because there were challenges related to various mechanisms for propellers,” said Dmytro Gorlin, technology director at Quantum Systems Ukraine.

In other words, the tasks facing the teams from the military and manufacturers are as relevant as possible to the needs of the front line here and now, or they are challenges that will soon arise on the battlefield.

“We hold these hackathons in Europe, but I am in Ukraine every three months. And when I come here, I see a different context and realize that this context does not exist in Europe. When you don’t understand the issues, when you don’t talk to people who have been on the front lines and understand the problems, that is, what is really important, that is why all these hackers need feedback on what they are doing. That is why defense tech in Europe is not possible without Ukraine,” said Larysa Visengeriyeva, co-organizer of the European Defense Tech Hackathon.

The entire event was held in English, as almost all of the engineers came to Ukraine from abroad.

On the first day, the organizers of the event gave introductory speeches, held an organizational briefing, and observed a minute of silence for those killed by Russia in Ukraine.

After the speeches, several workshops on various topics were held for those interested:

• Assembling FPV drones by DroneAid
• “How to create products for defense. Entry and scaling into the Ukrainian defense technology market” by the IRON cluster
• “How to create an effective thermal imaging camera for drones: anatomy and integration” by OKO Camera

Separately, the 3rd Assault Brigade organized training in Airsoft, tactical medicine, and the management and use of FPV drones.

The second day began with participants meeting their military mentors, a presentation of tasks, and the actual start of hacking.

For two days, until the morning of Sunday, May 25, the teams worked on their projects with short breaks for lunch and dinner. Some even stayed overnight.

The organizers provided everything necessary for the work: in addition to workspaces for the teams, there were a dozen 3D printers, soldering stations, oscilloscopes, and various special equipment.

If something unexpected came out, the organizers responded without delay. For example, during a conversation with a military co-organizer, his comrade, who also served as a mentor at hackathon, approached to report that one of the teams needed a spring. The issue was solved on the spot: someone went to a construction hypermarket and purchased it.

The last day of the hackathon was the busiest. Several dozen teams presented their projects, and although each pitch was limited to three minutes, some teams demonstrated a high level of readiness.

“The team that took first place already had some experience, and they received very good feedback here and further cooperation with the 3rd Assault Brigade. And this contact, this cooperation, was made possible by this hackathon,” said Larisa Visengerieva in a comment to Militarnyi about the winner of the European Defense Tech Hackathon in Lviv.

She hopes that after the event, the 3rd Assault Brigade, Quantum Systems, and everyone who set their challenges, will receive prototype solutions and will continue to develop them so that everything can go to the front.

It is the constant transformation of the battlefield that requires new solutions, which is why such events are held on an ongoing basis. 

On June 6-8, the European Defense Tech Hackathon will take place in the Czech capital, Prague. You can register there by following this link. Except for Lviv, similar events were held this year in Vilnius, Warsaw, Amsterdam, and Munich.

Larysa Visengeriyeva expressed her desire for such a hackathon to take place in Kyiv in the future, and there are currently proposals for locations that would satisfy the organizers’ security concerns. It may attract even more military personnel, so the organizers are always happy to make such contacts.