Happy New Fear: Highlights from the Brave1 Defense Tech Hackathon

Brave1 defense technology cluster held the Happy New Fear hackathon. The event brought together more than 200 participants.

Brave1: results of 2024

On the first day of the hackathon, a conference was held on the development of defense innovations in 2024. Natalia Kushnerska, head of the Brave1 cluster, presented a report on the cluster’s work over the past year and a half.

Brave1 has registered more than 3,200 developments from more than 1,400 manufacturers. Among them are more than 800 UAVs, 280 ground robotic systems, 240 electronic warfare systems, 220 drone munitions, and more than 200 solutions using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. More than 230 developments were codified under NATO standards.

In addition, over the past year and a half, the cluster has issued over 400 grants worth over UAH 800 million and helped attract more than $40 million in private investment to the Ukrainian defense industry.

The conference outlined the priority technologies for development in 2025. These include missiles, anti-Shaheddist systems, lasers, surface and underwater drones, drone swarms, autonomous weapons systems, carrier drones, anti-CAB systems, the Ukrainian equivalent of Mavica, and guided munitions.

Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade promised that this year, the state will continue to simplify the defense tech business in Ukraine, including the terms of contracting solutions for the needs of the Security and Defense Forces.

The conference outlined the priority technologies for development in 2025. These include missiles, anti-Shaheddist systems, lasers, surface and underwater drones, drone swarms, autonomous weapons systems, carrier drones, anti-CAB systems, the Ukrainian equivalent of Mavica, and guided munitions.

Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade promised that this year, the state will continue to simplify the defense tech business in Ukraine, including the terms of contracting solutions for the needs of the Security and Defense Forces.

About the hackathon

During the second and third days, 47 Ukrainian teams were looking for solutions in the following areas:

• Strategic intelligence;
• Strategic destruction means;
• Remote and programmable mining.

The search for solutions took place in the format of an Idea Generation Session, where the hackathon participants worked in “rooms” created in the areas of the hackathon, formed teams independently, and together generated creative ideas and developed innovative solutions. Professional mentors, including military officers and defense technology experts, assisted the teams.

As a result, the teams presented their projects to the hackathon jury, including Security and Defense Forces representatives and military experts. “Thanks to such defense tech hackathons, the defense industry and the military not only receive effective solutions but also teams ready to create such solutions regularly,” Natalia Kushnerska emphasized.