Ukraine brainstorms unmanned systems improvement with industry hackathon

Twelve winners will be selected from the developer suggestions to receive financial support from D3 Venture Capital Firm and Kyiv School of Economics to implement their projects.

“Unmanned systems are changing the course of war: drones account for most of the losses in the enemy’s army,” according to Kateryna Chernogorenko, Deputy Minister of Defense for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization.

“Hackathon ‘Machine Onslaught’ is a platform for us to quickly implement innovative solutions on the frontlines and be able to protect our territories effectively.”

The hackathon “Machine Onslaught” was implemented on the initiative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The hackathon’s co-organisers are the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry for Strategic Industries, and the Brave1 defence tech cluster.

“Today, Ukraine is at war with an army that is significantly superior in numbers. But if the enemy chooses the tactics of fighting with ‘meat’, then we fight with the mind, using extraordinary technological developments,” according to Brave1 project lead Nataliia Kushnerska.

“This hackathon demonstrated that we can generate effective solutions even on tight deadlines. Yes, of course, all of them need to be finalised, but these decisions will strengthen our military at the front soon.”

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The defence industry support program is designed to create innovative products for the reliable protection of Ukraine, income generation for the economy, attraction of large-scale foreign investment, and to foster development of engineering talent in Ukraine.

Earlier this year, a Belgian-Ukrainian defence industry seminar was held with participation of representatives from eight Belgian and 33 Ukrainian companies on 23 and 24 January. The event was held to support the establishment of contacts, arrange cooperation and strengthen the strategic partnership between defence industry representatives from Belgium and Ukraine.

Six agreements were reportedly signed at the event, supported by representatives from Brave1, the Association of the Belgian Security and Defense Industry, and representatives of the government sector of defence and security of both countries.

In addition, a delegation of 260 manufacturers and organisations from the French Maritime Industry Association met with Ukrainian representatives earlier this year to discuss challenges facing Ukraine, innovative technology, and opportunities for cooperation.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.