EUDIS Hackathon and Mentorship - NETHERLANDS Autumn

EUDIS Defence Hackathon & Mentorship Programme

The EUDIS Defence Hackathon will be hosted in eight simultaneous hackathons at different national locations across EU Member States and Norway that tackle pressing defence challenges for the European Defence industry.

In addition to local prizes, the eight national hackathon winners gain access to 40 hours of mentoring programme held over two months, get to pitch in front of EU Member States representatives, and the top three EU-wide winners get to attend an international high-tech event to pitch their solutions. The mentoring programme will support the eight winning teams in building sustainable and successful businesses, introducing them to important defence knowledge and contacts.

🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇪 Germany
🇮🇹 Italy
🇳🇱 The Netherlands
🇵🇱 Poland
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇷🇴 Romania
🇪🇸 Spain

EUDIS Defense Hackathon in The Netherlands 🇳🇱

Hosted by dotSPACE  |  Location: To be announced soon

🤝 Main Sponsors

• Netherlands Ministry of Defence → visit
• Groundstation dotSPACE → visit
• NL Space Campus → visit
• Innovation Quarter → visit
• Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk → visit
• NLR (Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre) → visit
• TNO → visit

🏆 EUDIS Netherlands Defence Hackathon local Prizes

The local prize reward package comprises financial awards and has a strong focus on opening up access to follow support programmes (e.g. technical support and testing, incubation, (national) funding and investment opportunities and business support). In conjunction with the mentor programme of EUDIS, the consortium will make time and knowledge available to also support the teams after the weekend event. 

For the first and second place winners a cash prize is made available and a business and technical support package. 

All participants will be invited to join the mailing lists of dotSPACE, NL Space Campus, SBIC and InnovationQuarter, to receive updates about specific programmes, funding opportunities, applications, and events.  

✅ Application: Register for the hackathon!

Ready to dive into the EUDIS Hackathon &  Mentorship program?  Begin by clicking either the "⚡ LOG IN TO JOIN" or "⚡JOIN HACKATHON" button, depending on whether you're already a TAIKAI member or need to create a new account. 

Your registration is complete after submitting the registration form. 

Congratulations, you're in! 🚀 Your next mission: Assemble your team. Head over to the matchmaking section to find collaborators. Remember, teams must be finalized before the Hackathon Weekend kicks off. TAIKAI will not be used for Jury and mentoring.

💡 Three challenges: Which one will you solve?

Please note that challenges are referred to as "Categories" inside the TAIKAI platform.

01 Protection of space assets 🛰️
Detect, analyse and counter threats in space 
With adversaries developing anti-satellite weapons, orbital jammers, and cyberattacks, Europe's space assets (navigation, communications, and Earth observation) are under threat. This challenge addresses the need for solutions that contribute to protect space assets from fast-developing threats through detection and analysis capacity (support to space domain awareness) and countermeasures.

02 Space for defence 📡
Earth observation, navigation, communication, and coordination of multi-domain military operations
This challenge addresses the need for innovative space-based solutions to support military missions and operations, including in the field of earth-observation, positioning, navigation and timing, secured communications, space-based missile early-warning, and collection and processing of multi-sources data (and increased resilience of such capabilities).

03 Sovereign Aerospace 🚀
Unmanned aerial vehicles, management, production, and countermeasures
Autonomous drones (military and civilian), aircraft, and weapon systems are redefining aerospace. The challenge addresses the need for innovative solutions in different areas.

• Airspace monitoring solutions to detect and respond to hostile or unknown airborne objects with automated countermeasures.
• Better recognition and disablement of fibre-optic drones in ambush situations.
• Repurposing existing space hardware and software for military application in the aerospace domain with the focus on launch systems, clearance, and trajectory calculations.
• Developing drone management hardware and software related to navigation, vision, and AI to enable independent flight and decision-making at scale for intelligence gathering and air support.
• Manufacturing drone hardware and prototyping capabilities to increase drone capabilities and scaling.

👩‍🚀 Hackers: Who can participate?

You must be a citizen AND resident from EU/Norway/Ukraine and be 18 years or older to participate in the hackathon competition. Failure to provide proof during the hackathon on such terms will disqualify you. All teams must have at least 2 members and a submitted project. (To register you don't need a team - go to FAQ for more information)

🗓️ Important dates

01 Pre-hackathon webinar: September (exact dates TBA)
Get insights from our experts on what to expect during the hackathon. Learn about the structure, challenges, and opportunities to maximise your impact.

02 Registration closes: October 10th
The final date to register for the hackathon. Make sure your team is signed up and ready by this date!

03 Hackathon weekend: October 17th - 19th
Across eight simultaneous locations in Europe teams develop solutions to three important defence challenges. 

04 Mentorship program: October 28th
Engage in a focused mentorship phase where you'll refine your ideas with the help of experienced mentors and prepare your solutions for the hackathon.

05 Live pitching in front of EU member states
After the mentorship program, winners will have the unique opportunity to participate in an exclusive EU-wide live pitching competition on.

This is an exciting next step for the top teams to showcase their innovative solutions, compete against other top participants across Europe, and potentially secure further EU recognition and awards.