Innovation Support Office Mentors at European Defense Tech Hackathon Kyiv

The Innovation Support Office team joined the European Defense Tech Hackathon Kyiv, an event that brought together engineers, startups, and experts working in defense and dual-use technologies. Following our participation in the Sheffield edition of the hackathon, the Kyiv event became a natural continuation of the ongoing dialogue within the technical and innovation community.

A particularly valuable part of this edition was the opportunity for the Innovation Support Office to provide mentorship — guiding teams through key questions, helping them validate their ideas, focus on practical and scalable solutions, and identify real-world applications for their defense and dual-use technologies.

The hackathon featured a closed-door format without photo or video recording, creating an environment ideal for deep discussions, rapid iteration, and problem-solving. Participants weren’t just presenting ideas — they were working on real impact, feasibility, and scalability.

It was truly inspiring to reconnect with familiar faces from Ukraine’s innovation ecosystem, as well as with teams that are increasingly shifting their focus from “what we build” to “why it matters” and “who we build it for.” These are the questions where real innovation takes shape.

We are grateful to the organizers and moderators for facilitating a thoughtful structure and meaningful discussions that allowed teams to test hypotheses, receive valuable feedback, and explore new development trajectories.

Although the Kyiv hackathon was held in a closed format, the photo used in this news update is from the London session of the Defense Tech Hackathon, which took place earlier with participation from Ukrainian teams. The atmosphere there was just the same — curiosity, energy, and a strong belief in innovation.

We continue supporting DeepTech teams working at the intersection of defense and civilian applications, helping them move from concept to real-world implementation and investment readiness.

Onward we go.