Who Hacks Wins: 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 is being held in association with the European Defense Tech Hub. The usual hackathon format is used, with teams spending a few days working on an idea & competing for prizes. But the point with a hackerthon is that you are not there to invent something, but to learn.

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. This semester I will be also helping out with ANU's Software Construction course, which uses hackerthons for learning.

Focus areas include the expected topics of electronic warfare & drones, but also includes "Battlefield Economics & Scaling Production". While the headlines are usually grabbed by exotic high tech weapons, if you can't afford to buy them or can't build them, they are no use.

ps: Yes, as one of my eagle eyed colleagues pointed out this is the "Australian Defense Tech Hackathon", spelled with an American style "S" US, not the "C" of Australian English. This is in association with a European organisation, so it is not like it is a US thing. NATO use a "C" for English documents and "S" for French.  When I worked in HQ ADF I had a complaint from a US journalist that we had misspelled "Defense" in a policy document. A short time later we received a groveling apology. ;-)

"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"