Australian Defense Tech Hackathon

I am delighted to be mentoring teams in the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon, 6 to 8  February 2026, at UNSW Canberra. 

This will be my fourth time mentoring at defence hackerthon. 

Event canvas from NWIW 2020
by Paul Telling

Two were hosed by the Australian Computer Society for the DoD and one by Navy. 

Also I have volunteered to to run a workshop on how to present tech to senior people. The point with a hackerthon is that you are not there to invent something, but to learn.

"Goals

​​1) Solve urgent defense and security challenges ...

​​2) Launch new careers and companies...

​​3) Strengthen Australia through defense innovation... 

Focus Areas ...

1. ​SIGINT & OSINT
2. ​Computer Vision & Edge AI
3. ​Unmanned & Autonomous Systems (UxS)
4. ​Electronic Warfare (EW)
5. ​Modular Sensors
6. ​Drone & Counter-Drone Tech
7. ​Battlefield Economics & Scaling Production
8. ​Hypersonics and Missile Defence ...

Agenda

​
Friday, February 6, 2026

​​12:00 - Doors open, Networking

​13:00 - Welcome and Opening Program

​14:00 - Workshops

​17:00 - Introduction to Mentors & Challenges, Last-Minute Team Formation

​18:00 - Start of Hacking

​Saturday, February 7, 2026

​Hacking continues all day

​Sunday, February 8, 2026

​12:00 - End of Hacking, Lunch Break

​Demo Day (Open to Visitors)

​13:00 - Pitches of the winning teams

​15:00 - Award Ceremony

​15:30 - After-party & Networking"