London tech hackathon organised to bring together ideas to help Ukraine – video

The first London Defence Tech Hackathon has been organised to unite ideas to help Ukraine. The initiative gathered experts in technology, venture capital and national security. Source: Ukrainian IT-related news outlet Mezha, citing TechCrunch, an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high-tech and start-up companies

Details: The hackathon has been organised as the United Kingdom announced a large-scale military support package for Ukraine, which will amount to GBP3 billion this fiscal year.

"But while most of those funds will be spent on very traditional military hardware, a new tech initiative launched last weekend was aimed at enhancing Ukraine's asymmetric warfare capabilities against Russia," the newspaper noted. The event was organised by Alex Fitzgerald of Skyral and Richard Pass of Future Forces, and co-organisers included Honourable Artillery Company, Apollo Defence, Lambda Automata, and D3 VC. The event brought together developers with experience in both hardware and software to foster innovation in defence, national security and high tech.

"There was a key focus on drones and their applications on the battlefield, both the hardware and the electronic systems needed to fly them to their targets and counter-drone systems," the newspaper wrote. Catarina Buchatskiy of Apollo Defence, who is of Ukrainian origin, believes that defence technology is a complex industry that is difficult to enter. "We've found hackathons an extremely exciting way for people to get involved because defence technology can seem like a giant black box of contracts that take 10 years, and technologies that are built [are often] hidden from the public eye.

At a hackathon, you have 24 hours. Make something really cool," she said. Additionally, representatives of the NATO Investment Fund attended the hackathon.

Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, a partner of the fund, said it was created to support start-ups "that bolster our collective defence security and resilience."

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