Dispatches from Tallinn: Announcing the Darkstar Defence Hack

The first hackathon in Europe that has Ukrainian soldiers as the mentors

We are keen to shine a light on the amazing work being run by Darkstar in Estonia and Ukraine. We recently wrote about their fifth defence tech meetup in Estonia. Darkstar is an initiative led by leading founders and investors from the Estonian and European tech ecosystem. They work directly with military units in Ukraine to get innovation into the battlefield quickly. We are constantly struck by the pace, urgency, and dynamism of what they are doing.

On 24-26 January 2025 they will run Darkstar Defence Hack, the first hackathon in Europe that has Ukrainian soldiers as the mentors. These mentors are from the leading combat units in Ukraine, and the focus of the hackathon is to support building products for military use, including air-defence, cybersecurity, affordable long-range capabilities, sensors and everything about unmanned systems.

Who will be there?

Beside Ukraine soldiers they have a great list of mentors, including professionals from the Estonian and other NATO militaries. Darkstar told us their hackathon is ‘for hardcore hackers and builders, military folks and early defence tech teams who want to push their solutions to the next level.’

Who is organising it?

The hackathon is organised by Darkstar coalition & Garage48. Darkstar is a coalition of over 30+ founders, builders, and investors, building up the EU defence tech ecosystem and strengthening national security for Ukraine and NATO, Garage48 was founded in Estonia and has organised several hundred hackathons over the last 14 years.

What’s the history behind it?

We asked Darkstar about the background to this hackathon. Darkstar explained, ‘we see a great need for Defence tech events, where the Defence community is given a chance to network but more importantly build real things. It is also crucial to get direct feedback from Ukraine, to take learnings from modern warfare and apply this combat experience to NATO militaries.’

To date, Darkstar have organised five Defence tech meetups in Tallinn. These have scaled considerably from a small local event to the last event, which attracted 300 people from 10 different countries. The hackathon is another approach to support these communities interacting and solving real problems.

What will make it different?

There are other defence hackathons happening around Europe. We wanted to know from Darkstar what will differentiate this one. Their started purpose is to ‘popularise military-use products and contribute to building up a great European defense tech ecosystem,’ going on to add that ‘dual-use is great - but you can not win a war without lethal capabilities. Defence Tech will be the fastest growing Startup vertical in the next 10 years.’

A defining feature of the activities in Estonia, and being run along the Eastern Flank, is that they do not shy away from the reality that defence tech is there to fight and win a war.

What outcomes will Darkstar Defence Tech Hack achieve?

The hackathon is aimed at building prototypes in 48 hours that may lead into becoming products and startups. The hackathon is being run by the customers and the investors, so this is the best place to be developing and iterating a technology. However, the Darkstar team also understand the value of networks, and describe the biggest value being ‘building relationships, trust, cooperation and integrations across teams from different countries.’

Who should apply to attend?

Darkstar would like to see applications from ‘anyone who wants to work in Defence Tech companies or solve Defence Tech problems at large. This is the best event for testing yourself and your skills. We are also welcoming any team who already has developed an early product.’

Hackathons are great for getting new people into a topic. However, this hackathon has real value for existing teams and startups wanting serious feedback on technologies they are developing, access to active investors, and who want to learn more about the market they are building for.

Darkstar have been pioneering running hackathons and events securely in a high risk environment. Applications will be vetted, and attendees will be required to work within their security protocols. Resilience Media is excited to see events like this make a real impact.

You can apply to attend and find out more about Darkstar Defence Hack here.