Aerospace, Cybersecurity & Defense Hackathon at AWS Builders Loft
E.S.I. x Korea Investments Aerospace, Cybersecurity & Defense Hackathon is a one-day, execution-driven hackathon for founders, engineers, researchers, and early-stage startups building technology for mission-critical and high-stakes environments.
Participants will design and prototype secure, resilient, and intelligent systems across aerospace, cyber defense, and national security domains. The focus is on real systems under real constraints - not theoretical demos.
Teams are expected to
move fast, architect responsibly, and ship solutions designed for environments where security, reliability, and performance are non-negotiable.
Hosted by Iman Schaefer, Bee Schaefer, Ashley Kim, Alex Aghili, Helen Zeng and Eric Kim
Core Focus Areas & Tracks
(Tracks Pending)
What You’ll Build
Functional prototypes or proof-of-concepts
Secure system architectures
AI-powered aerospace or defense tools
Cloud, edge, or hybrid solutions
Projects may be deeply technical, system-level, or architecture-focused.
Who Should Attend
Software & systems engineers
Cybersecurity professionals
Aerospace & defense technologists
AI researchers & builders
Cloud & infrastructure architects
Students, founders, and operators
No prior defense clearance is required. Strong execution and problem-solving matter most.
⚖️ Judges
Projects will be evaluated by experienced operators, founders, investors, and senior technologists, including:
⚖️ Judges:
Tak Lim Lee | Korea Investment Accelerator
Andrew McGrath | CEO of REALLM Realty
Helen Zeng | Financial Strategist
Josh Wadinski | Nevermined
Sanskar Jain | Co-founder at Entvin AI | YCombinator | IIT Bombay
Wayne Fenton | @ Light Links & Experienced Technology innovator
Andres Nino | Co-Founder & CEO VibeCo.ai
And additional judges and mentors from aerospace, defense, AI, and infrastructure domains.
Why This Hackathon Matters
Modern aerospace and defense systems depend on secure, autonomous, and resilient software.
This hackathon explores how AI, cybersecurity, and advanced infrastructure can be responsibly applied to environments where failure is not an option - and how these systems can scale from prototype to real-world deployment.
Sponsors
E.S.I & Korea Investment Accelerator
OffChain is a global community with over 70 chapters around the world for Web3 professionals, tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. We welcome like-minded people to build and connect. Each chapter/city aims to have a base of regular casual social gatherings or speaking events so we can bridge and connect.