European Defense Tech Hackathon – London
Time to Accelerate Defense Innovation in Europe!
Join us and 200+ hackers from across Europe and beyond for the European Defense Tech Hackathon, taking place on September 25–28, 2025, in London, UK—right before the Resilience Conference and as part of London Defence Tech Week.
Connect with fellow defense innovators, meet potential co-founders, and build projects with real-world impact that could save lives.
We’ll bring challenges rooted in pressing defense and security problems, and you’re welcome to bring your own ideas.
Throughout the event, you’ll get hands-on guidance from seasoned mentors—and after the hackathon, we’ll help you take your project closer to real-world deployment 🚀
More information on our event website: https://eurodefense.tech/hackathons/london-2025/
Challenge Tracks
We’ll feature 10–15 challenges across domains, with a special focus on:
Mission-Effective Software for Unmanned Systems
Create software and hardware that make unmanned systems effective, responsible, and coordinated in high-pressure environments. The focus areas are:
Tactical Execution: Navigation without GPS, dynamic mission planning, and advanced target recognition.
Responsible Autonomy: Transparent, accountable systems with intuitive human-machine teaming and rule-based decision-making.
Group Coordination: Real-time collaboration and adaptability across multiple unmanned systems.
Goals
1) Solve urgent defense and security challenges: Each hackathon features a fresh set of challenges sourced directly from frontline partners in Ukraine, the UK, and across the EU—driven by real needs, not theory.
2) Launch new careers and companies: Whether you're breaking into the defense sector or building your own product and company, we connect you with jobs, funding, and pathways toward real-world deployment.
3) Strengthen Europe through defense innovation: Here is where Europe's top talent meets the most pressing threats. By building and shipping, we demonstrate what a fast, capable, and resilient European defense ecosystem looks like.
Agenda
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Kick-off Day
12:00 - Doors open, Networking
13:00 - Welcome and Keynote Talk by STARK
14:00 - Workshops, Team Formation, and Networking
18:00 – Start of Hacking
Friday, September 26, 2025
Hacking continues all day
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Hacking continues all day
Sunday, September 28, 2025
10:00 - End of Hacking, Lunch Break
Demo Day (Open to Visitors)
13:00 - Pitches of the teams
15:00 - Award Ceremony
15:30 - After-party & Networking
To give the participants time and space to focus on their projects, we'll have no visitors during the hackathon. If you're curious about the outcomes and what the teams have built, please sign up as a visitor for our demo day on Sunday.