🚨 30 Hackathons and Counting

Fostering Defense Innovation for European Sovereignty

AuthorAuthor

Janick Bayer & Benjamin Wolba
March 26, 2026

Two weeks ago, we held our 30th hackathon in Rzeszów, entirely dedicated to air defense, with teams working to detect, track, and protect urban and critical infrastructure from threats such as small quadcopters and Shahed-class UAVs.

A week later, we hosted our first hackathon in Brussels, featuring a dedicated policy track, and three days later, our first online showcase on laser weapons.

Looking ahead, our hackathon series continues full steam ahead: In April, the Netherlands, Stockholm, and Porto will each host intensive 48-hour events, featuring engineers, military operators, and Ukrainian veterans sharing frontline insights.

In May, we’ll host an entire Kyiv Defense Tech Week, our first naval base hackathon in Karlskrona, and expand to Prague and Vilnius.

🇳🇱 Netherlands | April 10-12, 2026

This April, we return to the Netherlands for a 48-hour hackathon with over 100 engineers, founders, military operators, including Ukrainian veterans and active-duty soldiers.

🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden | April 24-26, 2026

After co-leading the defense track at BuildArena during Techarena, which became the event’s most competitive track, we are returning to Stockholm this April to host our own hackathon.

This time, over 120 hackers will gather for 48 hours to build and solve frontline challenges. Hosted by EY, and joined by Nordic Air Defence, Inflection, DroneAid Collective, TeraSi, and Pilotix.

🇵🇹 Porto, Portugal| April 24-26, 2026

For the first time, and in parallel to our Stockholm edition, this hackathon will be held in Porto, Portugal, on April 24–26, 2026.

Organized together with DroneAid Collective in Porto and hosted under the roof of 42 Porto, with support from Inflection, Pilotix, and Key Studio Any.

Even More Hackathons

📍Kyiv, Ukraine | May 1-3, 2026

We’re bringing our hackathon back to Kyiv: 200+ builders will team up with Ukrainian military experts to tackle real defense challenges. Co-organized with Snake Island Institute and the Kyiv Aviation Institute.

This hackathon will be part of our Kyiv Defense Tech Week, which we will be hosting together with Invest in Bravery: an entire week of defense tech events, including field testing with Snake Island Institute, a University Forum, the Invest in Bravery Summit, and side events across the city.

📍Karlskrona, Sweden | May 7-10, 2026

A first-of-its-kind event for EDTH: we’re partnering with the Marine Technology Center, Marine Alpha, Inflection, Saab, and Nordic Air Defence to run a hackathon on a Swedish naval base. Teams will demo systems to the Swedish Navy, test against leading USVs, and collaborate with defense-tech companies on full-scale naval defense.

📍Prague, Czech Republic | May 15–17, 2026

Second time in Prague: 120+ builders, operators, and military working on what actually matters: counter-UAS, autonomy, electronic warfare — with a clear goal: deployment.

On Sunday, we are going to the field: Together with our key partner U&C UAS, teams will test what they built under real conditions on a field

📍Vilnius, Lithuania | May 29–31, 2026

Next up, we are heading to Vilnius. Not our first time, and definitely not our last.

Upcoming Online Events (as part of our EDTH Community)

Get free access to all EDTH Community events for one year, including hackathon demo days, webinars, networking sessions, and our flagship New Defense Summit.

Join our EDTH Community — https://eurodefense.tech/community

EDTH in the Media

Resilience Media just featured our Tallinn hackathon as a core node in Europe’s defense innovation pipeline. From first prototype to field testing, accelerators, and deployment — we are turning hackathons into a pipeline that actually ships.

That’s how you build a real European defense tech ecosystem.

La Croix covered our recent Detect & Defend Counter‑Drone Hackathon in Rzeszów as part of Poland’s effort to build a “drone valley” and strengthen local aerial defense.

TVP3 Rzeszów also reported on this hackathon: the teamwork and its potential to accelerate the development of practical counter-drone technologies.

EDTH Alumni and Partners Join Second EUDIS Accelerator Cohort

We’re excited to share that EDTH alumni Mindfield Defence, Trusk Technology, and Neurobus, along with our partner Alta Ares, are now part of Cohort 2 of the EUDIS Business Accelerator. Backed by the European Commission, this program connects 20 top defense and dual-use start-ups and scale-ups from Europe and Norway.

We look forward to seeing our alumni and partners expand their impact and contribute to a more independent and competitive European defense sector.

Jake Broe x KUSTO Campaign

Jake Broe and the NAFO 69th Sniffing Brigade have kicked off their 7th campaign, teaming up with Kyiv cartoonist KUSTO to offer exclusive patches.

Since 2024, the community has funded over 200 trucks and military aid; this campaign aims to deliver at least 30 more, bringing the total to 250.

Vehicles, drones, R&D support, and training will go to frontline units, including the 37th Marine Brigade’s unmanned systems battalion, the 47th Mechanized Brigade, and specialized SOF detachments.