​Time to Accelerate European Defense Innovation 🚀

​Join us and hackers from across Europe and beyond for the Detect & Defend – Counter-Drone Hackathon on March 6-8, 2026, in Rzeszów, Poland.

​We’re excited to co-organize this hackathon with the Polish Development Fund (PFR) and Rzeszów City to support the creation of innovative technology in Poland, under the patronage of the Minister of National Defence of Poland.

​PFR offers instruments to support the development of enterprises, local government units, and private individuals, thereby investing in the country's sustainable social development and economic growth. One of PFR's projects is the IDA program, which supports innovative entities in developing dual-use technologies.

​Goal

​​We want to bridge the gaps between technologists, the public sector, investors, and operators in dual-use and defense technology. This hackathon will demonstrate the talent and drive of the European ecosystem.

​​Get inspired by the challenges we have prepared, or feel free to bring your own project. You'll get feedback from folks who have been on the frontline to ensure you're solving real problems.

​Our goal with the hackathon is to put you in a position to continue towards deployment.

​Challenges

​We'll focus on counter-drone operations and protecting critical infrastructure from all types of aerial threats, from small quadcopters to larger Shahed-style UAVs.

​You will tackle challenges in multi-sensor detection, navigation without GPS, low-cost radar and optical tracking, secure friend-or-foe identification, RF-based threat detection, and resilient command-and-control networks.

​Visitors

​To give 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.

​Agenda

​Friday, 6 March 2026 – Opening Day
Pre-Hackathon City Tour
• 17:00 – Meeting at the meeting point (check Luma emails for more info) / Open networking
• 18:00 – Introduction of mentors and challenges
• 19:00 – Night tour of the Rzeszów underground

​Start of the Hackathon
• 20:00 – Moving to the hackathon venue (check Luma emails for more info)
• 20:30 – Start of Hacking

​Saturday, 7 March 2026
Hacking continues throughout the day
• 08:00 - Breakfast
• 12:00 - Lunch
• 19:00 - Dinner

​Sunday, 8 March 2026
• 08:00 - Breakfast
• 10:00 – End of hacking, presentation testing
• 12:00 – Lunch break

​Demo Day (open to guests)
• 13:00 – Presentations of the winning teams
• 15:00 – Award ceremony
• 15:30 – After-party and networking