This year’s hackathon spring edition main theme is Rapid Defence Solutions for the Ukrainian battlefield and beyond.
In response to Ukraine’s urgent and dynamic military needs, this theme aims to drive innovative solutions that strengthen defence capabilities on the battlefield. Solutions should be adaptable, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable, addressing immediate operational demands while remaining flexible across varied combat scenarios.
This theme aligns with EU Member States and Norway defence priorities and its commitment to support resilient and adaptable military operations, enhancing battlefield readiness and tactical advantage through innovative and multi-functional technologies.
The focus is on developing hardware/software solutions which can enhance the situational awareness, protection and medical assistance of frontline forces, in line with the pressing needs of Ukraine’s current defence challenges.
The EUDIS Hackathon 2025 will focus on three pivotal areas that are crucial for the future of European defence. This year’s themes are designed to tackle pressing defence needs through collaborative innovation. The challenges will include:
This challenge aims to deliver affordable and portable surveillance systems that will improve the situational awareness of Ukrainian military units. Ukrainian Armed Forces operate in hostile conditions where access to real-time intelligence is crucial for tactical decision-making. This requires adaptable surveillance tools that can gather, process, and transmit critical data on enemy movements, environmental hazards, and other operational threats. Surveillance systems should be designed for ease of deployment, able to withstand harsh environments and rapid movement across diverse terrains or in the air/water. Multi-functional systems that integrate reconnaissance, communication relays, and environmental sensing will be essential, reducing the burden on personnel and enabling comprehensive intelligence-gathering from a single platform. Ultimately, this challenge emphasizes the need for resilient and flexible surveillance solutions that can provide frontline personnel with a continuous flow of actionable information, supporting their effectiveness and safety on the battlefield.
This challenge focuses on equipping soldiers with high-quality, lightweight protective gear that is both affordable and easy to produce. The protection and mobility of frontline personnel are paramount, and therefore, body armour and helmets must offer superior ballistic protection while remaining light and comfortable enough to support prolonged use in active combat. In addition to providing robust physical protection, protective gear should incorporate modular design features, allowing soldiers to attach necessary add-ons, such as communication devices and health-monitoring sensors, to better respond to mission-specific needs. The adaptability of such gear would enhance situational awareness and operational flexibility in various combat contexts. With scalability as a key requirement, these solutions must be designed for efficient, low-cost production to ensure that adequate protection can be made available to a large number of troops, contributing to Ukraine's capacity for sustained defence.
This challenge seeks to develop advanced, AI-driven tools that support both medics and soldiers in quickly diagnosing injuries and determining the priority of care under high-pressure conditions. Soldiers in the field often face immediate medical needs or need to assist injured comrades before a medic arrives, and AI-powered systems can play a crucial role in guiding these fast-response actions. Injury assessment tools that use image recognition and vital sign data will help all personnel instantly categorize and understand wound severity, aiding rapid decision-making in high-stress scenarios. Wearable health sensors that continuously monitor vital signs will allow for real-time tracking of a soldier's health status, ensuring that any deterioration is swiftly identified, even in remote settings and support can be deployed proactively. Additionally, automated triage systems that allocate resources efficiently based on injury severity and availability will enable both medics and soldiers to deploy resources optimally, ensuring that the most urgent cases receive timely attention. By enhancing frontline care capabilities and empowering soldiers with life-saving tools, this challenge aims to bolster resilience and improve survival outcomes on the battlefield.