New technological solutions for the army: the Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched a Drone Hackathon in military-tech sector
On August 26, the first international Drone Hackathon began in Kyiv targeting to develop new ideas in the field of military-tech for the production of drones. The process of creating of new technological solutions for the Ukrainian army attracted 150 participants among which were design engineers, radio engineers, drone operators and programmers.
"This hackathon is a unique opportunity to participate in the development of new digital solutions that will help our military. Our joint task is to raise the development of production and technical support of drones to a high level. And apart from purchasing drones from various companies around the world, also to create them on an industrial scale in our country. It depends on you how we will develop new military-tech projects in this area", stressed the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov in his address to the participants.
Leading IT specialists, the military and economists joined the first Drone Hackathon as mentors and judges.
"Today we are looking for those ideas that will make our innovations relevant for the military not in the future, but nowadays. During these three days, we are looking for a solution together with the military so that the ideas that the teams come up with at this hackathon are implemented at maximum at the frontline. This is the first military-tech hackathon for the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF). There will be even more. It is of strategic importance for us. This is the priority that the USF sets before itself," said Dmytro Shimkiv, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
Hackathon participants have already completed the first tasks online. Now, over the course of three days, the teams will finalize their joint solutions, which will later be presented to the jury. The winners of the hackathon will receive a monetary reward.
It’s worth mentioning that in early July, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Fundraising platform UNITED24 announced the launch of the Drone Army project. The partner of this project is the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP). This is a comprehensive program, within the framework of which the system procurement of drones, their repair and prompt replacement, pilot training, as well as training for the R&D industry will be carried out. UAVs have already been contracted for almost UAH 948 million. These include 877 drones that will strengthen the Ukrainian army. The total amount of the fundraising for the Drone Army is approaching UAH 1 billion. The following UAVs have already been purchased: UkrJet, Skyeton, Fly Eye, WARMATE, SKIF, DJI Matrice RTK 300, DJI Mavic 3, Autel evo 2.
The first UAVs purchased with this money have already been delievered at the frontline.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine implements the Drone Hackathon together with the Ukrainian StartUp Fund, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, SC Ukroboronprom and IDI Camp.