The first hackathon in London was dedicated to finding technological solutions for the defense of Ukraine

The first London defense technologies hackathon brought together leaders in technology, venture capital and national security to develop innovative solutions. In addition to traditional military armaments, the new technological project, which took place this weekend, aims to strengthen Ukraine’s capabilities in its war against Russia, TechCrunch reports.

The hackathon was organized by Alex Fitzgerald from Skyral and Richard Pass from Future Forces. The event attracted hardware and software developers with the support of Honorable Artillery Company, Apollo Defense, Lambda Automatam D3 VC and others. The main focus was on drones and their application on the battlefield, as well as on electronic systems for their control and destruction. The aim of the hackathon was to involve people who had not previously been involved in defense technology.

According to experts cited in the publication, this war is significantly different from the previous ones. Today, drones and electronic warfare systems have become much more important, as Ukraine tries to repel the aggression of Russia, a significantly stronger aggressor, using asymmetric methods. Fitzgerald explained that one of the main goals was to involve people who had not traditionally been involved in defense issues, nor in development, nor in investment:

“We have people like the NATO Innovation Fund and the UK National Security Strategic Investment Fund. So yes, it’s a mix of people who are already investing in defense or who haven’t thought about it before.”

He chose the format of a hackathon because “The focus is on getting things done. Make sure you get real builders, and not just talk about building, because that’s where most of the innovation actually happens.”

Apollo Defense’s Katarina Buchatsky, a native of Ukraine, emphasized the importance of addressing the real issues her country has faced. She emphasized the importance of hackathons in driving innovation and engaging various military stakeholders.

NATO was also represented at the hackathon in the form of an investment fund with a budget of one billion euros for investments in defense technologies in the coming years. This demonstrated the alliance’s focus on innovation in European defense. The fund’s partner, Patrick Schneider-Sikorski, highlighted the fund’s focus on collective defense and resilience solutions.

HCVC investor Alex Flamant emphasized the importance of investing in European defense technologies and the need to make this market more understandable for young entrepreneurs. Hackathon participants sought to address security issues such as drone detection and monitoring.