Drone Defense Hackathon Nordics is a KTH initiative, run together with universities and local ecosystems in Sweden and across the Nordics. Researchers, students and startups work alongside industry, authorities, the armed forces and other operational partners on real operational problems in counter-drone defence, with a focus on airports and critical infrastructure.
The challenges fall into four areas: detecting unauthorised drones in real time, identifying and classifying them and understanding how they behave, developing safe and effective ways to handle drone threats, and protecting airports and critical infrastructure through surveillance, data and automated response.
Relevant fields include computer vision, acoustics, signal processing, sensor fusion, RF, electronic warfare, AI, cyber, communications, C2, robotics, autonomy, navigation and space technology. Legal expertise and other fields are welcome as well, and teams that combine different disciplines are encouraged.
A Nordic steering group made up of the KTH Center for Total Defense, Chalmers, Aalto University, DTU, NTNU and Reykjavik University coordinates the work in each country. In Sweden, twelve universities serve as local nodes, among them Linköping, Lund, Umeå and Örebro. Partners include Swedavia, the Swedish Armed Forces, FMV, the Swedish Police, the Swedish Defence University, Saab, Microsoft, FLIR, Axis Communications, Truesec and the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The hackathon starts with local kick-offs at the nodes on 1 December. After that, most of the work happens online, and the format is designed to fit alongside studies, research and other commitments. Teams submit their concepts on 20 December, and a jury evaluates them in January 2027. The most promising teams can be invited to demonstrate and develop their solutions further with relevant partners, with the aim of speeding up the path from an operational need to a tested solution.
Individuals and teams can register until 25 November, and companies that want to take part from the industry side can sign up as well. Registration is handled through the event website: https://dronedefensehackathon.se/
The material above is published by a third party through Nordic Defence Sector and does not constitute editorial content from the NDS newsroom.