New technological solutions for the army: The first International Military Drone Hackathon has started
On the 26th of August, the first international Military Drone Hackathon has started.
The event was organized by Ukrainian Startup Fund in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukroboronprom state-owned concern, and IDI Camp.
The goal of Drone Hackathon is to develop new ideas within the military-tech industry for the production of drones.
In total, about 300 applications (individual and team participants) were received from design engineers, radio engineers, drone operators, programmers and other specialists from all regions of Ukraine.
150 selected participants will be working on-site for 3 days (August 26-28) to develop new technological solutions within the military-tech field that will help to deal with challenges of war and to help the Ukrainian army.
At the opening of the event, speeches were made by: Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy of Minister of Digital Transformation Yegor Dubynskyi, Member of Ukrainian Startup Fund’s Supervisory Board Dmytro Shymkiv.
“This hackathon is a unique opportunity to join the development of new digital solutions that will help our military. Our joint task is to promote the development of drones, as well as their production and technical support to a next level. And not only to purchase drones from various companies around the world, but also to create them on an industrial scale in our country. You are the ones who will set the direction of development for new military-tech projects within this area”, – Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov pointed out in his speech to the participants.
“Today we are looking for ideas that will make our innovations relevant for the military not in the distant future, but today. During these three days we are looking for solutions together with the military. In such way, the ideas that the teams will come up with at this hackathon would be implemented at the frontline as much as possible. This is the first military-tech hackathon for the Ukrainian Startup Fund. There will be more to come. It is strategically important for us. This is the priority that USF sets for itself”, – Member of Ukrainian Startup Fund’s Supervisory Board Dmytro Shymkiv stressed.
Today, during the first day of the Drone Hackathon, participants presented their initial ideas, formed teams, discussed main challenges of the Hackathon with group mentors and started to work on their projects with their teams.
The plan for the upcoming 2 days features lectures for the Hackathon participants, consultations with mentors and relevant experts, teamwork on projects, and preparation for the pitch.
Hackathon facilitators were representatives of the Ukrainian Startup Fund – Igor Markevich and Yana Paladieva.
The Drone Hackathon will end with a Pitch Day, as a result of which the jury will evaluate projects by the following criteria: meeting the requirements of stakeholders, innovative approach to the problem, completeness of the solution, simplicity and scalability, presentation of the final product. The winners will receive cash prizes and gifts from partners.
“In the 21st century, knowledge, intelligence and technology are of great value in warfare, facilitating development of effective and efficient anti-war tools that win wars in the modern world. This is not something alien for Ukraine. This is our reality and everyday life. Artificial intelligence, drones, chatbots for information gathering, special search engines, satellite communications, space technologies – these are just a few of the innovative tools used by Ukraine during the war. Now these words have become part of our day-to-day vocabulary. Six months of war on the territory of Ukraine have demonstrated how important and decisive such technological weapons can be, as well as their ability to significantly strengthen ground troops. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Military Drone Hackathon aroused keen interest among innovators. I am very pleased that startups are now working not only for the development of their companies, but also for our common victory in the war. They want to strengthen the defenders on the battlefield and firmly hold the technological front, ensure defense and counteroffense”, – Director of the Ukrainian Startup Fund Pavlo Kartashov noted.
