European defence hackathons 2026

Online rounds and final in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic

Second round closed 11 Jan 2026

Primary-school, secondary-school and university students aged 9-24.

National cybersecurity competition with online awareness, selection and final rounds.

Finalist route and possible summer camp with defence and university partners.

National final held 22-23 Apr 2026.

School selection, regional venues and national final, Italy

12 Dec 2025

Secondary-school students enrolled in a participating school for 2025-2026 and under 22 years old as of 31 Dec 2025.

Cybersecurity Olympics with regional Jeopardy CTF and national competition; programming, network security, cryptography, web security and software security.

Training camp, regional selection, national competition and award ceremony.

National competition held 17-19 Apr 2026.

Swedish Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden

10 Nov 2025

University student teams of four from the same institution; coach support from the institution is optional.

Cyber crisis, security policy, emergency preparedness, incident response, strategic communication, policy development and impact analysis.

Recognition by Swedish Defence University and the National Cybersecurity Centre, plus networking and recruitment exposure.

Registration deadline was in 2025 for the 2026 competition day.

Pan-European student competition; awards in Brussels, Europe

15 Jan 2026 first-stage proposal

Undergraduate and graduate students from European universities, vocational education and training centres, and other education institutions; students are encouraged to team up across universities or countries.

From STEM to strategy: aerospace and defence future skills, STEM education, strategy and the defence ecosystem.

Finalist travel and accommodation for Brussels awards, EU institution visit, stakeholder meetings, glider-flight vouchers, recognition and certificates.

Second-stage proposal deadline was 24 Mar 2026; awards in May 2026.

Online qualification and Bratislava final, Slovakia

1 Feb 2026, 23:59

Cybersecurity competitors entering through the official online qualification process.

Blue-team CTF focused on digital forensics, incident response and threat hunting in a financial-infrastructure attack scenario.

Finals access and live blue-team competition exposure.

Final held in Bratislava on 12 Feb 2026.

Online, France

Registration closed

French secondary-school, BTS and preparatory-class students.

Capture-the-flag cyber challenges around cyberdefence techniques and military-style cyber scenarios.

Training and competition recognition.

Event completed.

Online qualifier and Stockholm final, Sweden

Online qualifier 23-25 Jan 2026

Teams of 1-3 students; competition focuses on upper-secondary and lower-secondary students and includes a route toward national-team selection.

Youth cybersecurity and hacking CTF with web, binary exploitation, hardware, radio and related challenge categories.

Final in Stockholm and route toward national-team selection.

Final held 12-15 Mar 2026 in Stockholm.

France / application call, France

27 Mar 2026

Companies, startups, laboratories and research teams with tactical cargo-drone concepts or prototypes.

Tactical cargo drones and aeromobility concepts for defence users, including prototype and experimentation pathways.

Operational and technical review by DGA/AID ecosystem; possible experimentation route.

Applications closed on 27 Mar 2026.

Austrian Defence Innovation Conference, Austria

Application closed

Austrian startups, spin-offs, scientific and applied research teams, technology-oriented SMEs and hackathon teams depending on challenge track.

Cognitive Security & Resilience Hackathon, Defence Quantum Challenge and Next-Generation Protection Systems Challenge.

EUR 30,000 hackathon prize and EUR 20,000 per defence challenge.

Application form is closed.

Online application, EU, Norway and Ukraine

25 Mar 2026, 12:00 CET

SMEs and startups established in EU Member States, Norway or Ukraine.

Maintenance, joining and repair of defence platforms; structural monitoring; non-destructive testing; AI decision support for defence maintenance.

Up to EUR 60,000 plus 6-month business development support.

Applications closed.

Toulon, France

28 Feb 2026 full dossier

Student teams and companies; academic tutor required for student teams.

Autonomous sailing-drone swarm strategy, robotics, AI, edge AI and real maritime drone integration.

Hardware resources, partner engineering support, BattleBoats regatta demonstration and awards.

Applications closed.

Online application; UK projects, United Kingdom

31 Mar 2026, 12:00 BST

Innovators with practical technologies for safe last-line counter-drone effects around prisons, urban areas and sensitive sites.

Counter-UAS, hostile drone neutralisation, sensitive-site security and operationally safe defeat mechanisms.

Up to GBP 1.85m available across multiple projects.

Applications closed.

Distributed test locations in Poland, Poland

27 Feb 2026

Manufacturers of unmanned land-system technical solutions submitting completed applications to the Polish Armed Forces.

Unmanned land weapon systems, unmanned solutions and related technical testing in the Polish Armed Forces.

Fair, transparent and competitive military testing process with simplified verification by relevant services.

Applications closed.

Rovajärvi training area, Finland

5 Oct 2025 nomination deadline

Industry and academia could apply to test and demonstrate technology and capabilities to the Finnish Defence Forces and NATO allies.

Arctic special-operations technology testing: signature management, power, medical, sensors, communications, UxS, C-UAS, GNSS-denied navigation and field mobility.

Free event access for selected participants; experiment, mini-expo and possible additional field-testing week. Companies cover own travel and demo costs.

Main event 9-13 Feb 2026; possible additional field testing 14-20 Feb 2026.

Online, Latvia

30 Jan 2026

Latvian nationals aged 14-25; no prior cybersecurity knowledge required.

Cybersecurity and cyber-defence tasks across three online rounds.

Ministry of Defence prizes and opportunity to join Latvia's national team for the European Cybersecurity Challenge.

Applications closed on 30 Jan 2026.

Munich, Germany

Registration closed

Hackers, builders and defence-tech community participants gathering alongside the Munich Security Conference.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Registration closed.

TenderNed innovation impact challenge, Netherlands

24 Apr 2026, 11:30 CET

Market parties able to propose innovative data and AI concepts for a military intelligence context through the Dutch defence challenge process.

Data and AI platform for automated, AI-supported military intelligence workflows, strategic independence and faster information provision.

Indicative amount EUR 105,000; possible follow-on challenge/procurement route.

Applications closed on 24 Apr 2026.

Online qualifier and Oslo national final, Norway

Qualifier closes 22 Mar 2026

People aged 16-25 with Norwegian citizenship can try to join the official national team; the wider community is open to curious beginners and experienced security people.

Online ethical-hacking qualifier followed by national final for Norway's ECSC team.

National final at Teknologihuset / Rebel in Oslo and route to represent Norway at ECSC.

National final held 25-26 Apr 2026.

Online qualification, regional rounds and national final, Denmark

22 Mar 2026, 23:59

Participants aged 15-25 living in Denmark can enter qualification and regional rounds; Danish citizenship is required for the national championship/ECSC route.

CTF tasks across virtual qualification, Nationals Fast Track, regional championships and national championship.

National-team pathway and progression to regional and national championships.

National championship held 9 May 2026.

Online preliminary round, Estonia

23 Mar 2026, 01:00 UTC+2

Estonian citizens aged 14-25 interested in cybersecurity and hacking.

Online CTF preliminary round across cybersecurity categories, linked to Team Estonia selection for ECSC 2026.

Team Estonia selection and preparation for ECSC 2026.

Preliminary round completed on 23 Mar 2026.

Online preliminary qualifier and national selection route, Finland

Preliminary qualifier closes 22 Mar 2026

Finnish cyber talents competing for a national team of up to 10 people; five team members must be under 20 and five can be aged 21-25.

CTF preliminary qualifier with web, crypto, pwn and miscellaneous categories, followed by separate national-team selection from the best players.

ECSC team-selection route; trip expenses for ECSC competitors paid by supporting companies.

Preliminary qualifier completed on 22 Mar 2026.

Online qualification and Bosön, Lidingö final, Sweden

Qualifier closes 22 Mar 2026

Cybersecurity competitors seeking selection for Sweden's national hacking team and international finals.

Individual qualification CTF with cryptography, web security, binary exploitation and reverse engineering, followed by a national final.

Finalist accommodation for the Bosön final, training programme and Sweden representation route at ECSC and ICO.

National final held 24-26 Apr 2026; training runs May-Dec 2026.

Reykjavik, NATO-wide

Past event

Teams of 2-4 from NATO, Allied and Partner nations, including industry and academia.

AI-enabled targeting, digital health decision support and automated cyber incident response.

NATO evaluation and possible further exploration inside the TIDE community.

Past NATO hackathon.

Šternberk / event venue Central Park Flora, Czech Republic

20 Feb 2026

Engineers, startups, industry partners and participants with defence or dual-use projects and prototypes.

Defence and dual-use prototypes, counter-UAS, SDR, sensors, materials, vehicles and field-deployment concepts.

Mentoring, testing facilities, expert validation, workshops, awards and grant-program evaluation.

Applications closed.

Online application; UK projects, United Kingdom

12 May 2026, 12:00 BST

Innovators with fast, scalable defence-technology proposals able to demonstrate quickly and scale toward manufacture.

Counter-UAS sensors, one-way attack UAS seekers, UAS survivability, GNSS-denied navigation, low-detection telemetry and maritime autonomy.

Typical proposals up to GBP 350,000; proposals must not exceed GBP 1,000,000; several awards possible.

Applications closed.

Technical tests, interviews and national team selection, Albania

28 Feb 2026

Young people aged 14-25 interested in cybersecurity.

Technical tests and interviews to select Albania's national team for the European Cybersecurity Challenge.

Training and selection of 10 participants to represent Albania at ECSC.

Applications closed on 28 Feb 2026.

Online qualifier and Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium

Registration until end of qualifiers

ECSC track requires Belgian nationality and age-category eligibility; student fun track requires a valid student card for academic year 2025-2026.

Jeopardy-style CTF covering crypto, reverse, pwn, web, forensics, programming and hardware.

Belgian Red Daemons ECSC selection, elite training and student prizes including training, licenses and conference passes.

Qualifier completed; onsite final was 28 Mar 2026.

Athens, Greece

Registration closed

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Registration closed.

Tallinn, Estonia

Registration closed

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Registration closed.

Online qualifier and German final route, Germany

Qualifier closes 1 May 2026, 18:00 CEST

Qualification is open to everyone; German nationals aged 14-25 can qualify for the final.

Online CTF for German cyber talent, with junior and senior categories and an unrestricted Earth category.

Final qualification route and community access.

Qualifier closed on 1 May 2026.

Online, Slovakia

Register during game window

Players, programmers, students and professionals can participate; Slovak citizens can win prizes and seek nomination to Slovakia's ECSC team; foreign players receive participation certificates.

CTF scenarios in malware analysis, OSINT, forensic analysis, obfuscation, cryptography, offensive security and security-management processes.

Prizes by category and nomination route to Slovakia's national ECSC team.

Game completed on 9 May 2026.

TenderNed / Netherlands, Netherlands

23 Mar 2026, 12:00 CET

European companies, with preference for Dutch companies, able to develop and produce counter-drone systems.

Detecting and intercepting tactical UAS weighing 150-400 kg and flying up to 600 km/h.

EUR 30m available and prospect of long-term cooperation with Defence.

Applications closed.

Rzeszów, Poland

Registration closed

Hackers from across Europe and beyond; participation handled through the official Luma registration process.

Counter-drone operations, critical infrastructure protection, multi-sensor detection, GNSS-denied navigation, low-cost radar and optical tracking, friend-or-foe identification, RF threat detection and resilient command-and-control networks.

Registration closed.

Mont-de-Marsan and remote, France

1 Mar 2026

Cybersecurity professionals, entrepreneurs, students and hacking enthusiasts; 80 onsite places and 160 remote places were available for the CTF.

Capture-the-flag cybersecurity challenge prepared by French military cyber-protection and operational information-system/cyber-defence units.

CTF participation and cyber-defence community exposure.

Event completed on 10 Mar 2026.

Online submission; pitch day in Rennes, France, NATO-wide

20 Apr 2026, 5pm EDT

Open to organisations from NATO member countries, including startups, academia, defence contractors and research organisations.

Agentic AI for Cognitive Warfare.

Visibility, NATO evaluation, expert feedback and possible follow-on engagement.

Pitch day was scheduled for Rennes, France on 28 May 2026.

Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Samos and remote, Greece

Registration open

Anyone can join remotely; onsite participants must meet age and academic-enrolment rules; onsite teams are invitation-based with up to 4 members.

Scenario-based CTF with onsite and remote participation.

Student prizes including SANS OnDemand courses, training discounts, certifications, HackTheBox subscriptions and Fortinet access points.

Exact competition end date not published on the official platform page.

Brussels, Belgium

Registration closed

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Countering Shahed and fiber-optic drones, GNSS-denied localization, low-cost sensing and tracking, secure identification, mesh networking, battle-damage assessment and policy-focused defence challenges.

Registration closed.

Online, Hungary

19 Apr 2026, 23:59

Hungarian citizens aged 16 or over can participate individually.

CTF and forensic-image tasks in an online one-round competition.

HUF 6,000,000 total prize pool; NBSZ-NKI covers travel and support for the Hungarian ECSC team.

Competition completed on 26 Apr 2026.

France / application call, France

29 May 2026

Innovators able to propose automated fake-video detection solutions for evaluation.

Automated detection of fake video, with or without audio, against state-of-the-art information-operation threats.

Evaluation route with French defence innovation and cyber stakeholders.

Applications closed on 29 May 2026.

Online qualifier and Belgrade final, Serbia

20 Mar 2026

Serbian high-school students, higher-education students and Serbian citizens interested in cybersecurity.

Online cybersecurity qualification followed by an onsite final.

Final access, training materials and national cyber community exposure.

Belgrade final held on 26 May 2026.

Online, France

Registration until the eve of the challenge

French young people aged 18-25.

Cyberdefence, disinformation, digital investigation and OSINT in an ORION 26 military scenario.

Training and competition exposure.

Event completed.

Czech Republic, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the Netherlands, Europe

20 Mar 2026

Startups, researchers, engineers, developers and defence professionals across the European innovation ecosystem; Ukrainian participation encouraged.

Defending Airspace: drone detection, monitoring, airspace protection and emerging aerial threats.

Winning teams entered mentoring, bootcamp, pitching and EU-level visibility routes.

Registration closed.

Online, Malta

Register during the competition window

Maltese nationals or permanent Maltese residents interested in cybersecurity; individual participation through the CTF platform.

Capture-the-flag cybersecurity challenges including reverse engineering, binary exploitation, cryptography and web security.

Top 3 contestants receive EUR 700, EUR 500 and EUR 300 in vouchers.

Event completed.

Online, France

Competition window ended 12 Apr 2026

French players compete individually; FCSC selects the best French players to form Team France for ECSC.

Jeopardy-style CTF with crypto, reverse, pwn, web, hardware, forensics, side-channel, fault attacks and misc challenges.

Team France selection and Hackropole training archive.

Competition completed on 12 Apr 2026.

Tilburg, Netherlands

Registration closed

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Registration closed.

Online county stage and Bucharest national stage, Romania

County stage on 24 Apr 2026

Romanian high-school students; middle-school participants can join as guests.

National Jeopardy-style CTF competition with simulations, county stage, national stage and national-team selection.

National-team selection route and cyber-training ecosystem exposure.

National stage held 15-17 May 2026 in Bucharest; selection stage 27-29 May 2026.

Spain / public-sector contracting platform, Spain

25 May 2026, 11:00

Interested companies submitting through Spain's Public Sector Contracting Platform.

Heavy multipurpose autonomous unmanned ground vehicle with modular architecture for defence, security and emergency missions.

Base tender budget EUR 11,905,308 VAT included; estimated execution period 30 months.

Tender deadline passed.

French public procurement route, France

7 May 2026, 16:00

Companies able to bid through France's official public-procurement platform for interceptor-drone evaluation, development, production and support.

Evaluation, development, production and support of lightweight aerial interceptor drones for counter-UAS missions.

Innovation partnership and potential development, production and support contract route.

Applications closed on 7 May 2026.

Porto, Portugal

Past event

Hackers work in cross-functional teams of 2-6 people; participants can include engineers, developers, product managers, designers, ex-military contributors and others with relevant skills.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with challenges presented by judges and sponsors.

Past event.

Stockholm, Sweden

Past event

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Past event.

Kyiv, Ukraine

Registration closed

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants.

Defence technology prototyping as part of Kyiv Defense Tech Week.

Registration closed.

Innovation Funding Service; UK projects, United Kingdom

3 Jun 2026, 11:00 UK time

UK registered businesses or public-sector organisations can lead collaborative projects; each consortium must include at least one UK registered SME claiming grant funding.

Dual-use counter-UAS technologies for defence sites, airports, prisons, critical national infrastructure, schools and public events.

Up to GBP 5m total funding; project grant requests between GBP 300,000 and GBP 1.25m.

Competition closed on 3 Jun 2026.

Karlskrona, Sweden

Past event

Hackers applied through Luma; mentors were invitation-only and community visitors could access Demo Day through EDTH membership.

Naval defence, autonomous systems, maritime prototypes, USVs and full-scale naval defence concepts.

Demo exposure to Swedish Navy and FMV test and evaluation.

Past EDTH naval hackathon.

Winterthur, Switzerland

Registration closed

Hackers, builders and visionaries from across Europe and beyond.

Computer vision, AI on edge devices, unmanned and autonomous systems, electronic and cyber warfare, modular sensors, battlefield economics, space applications, OSINT, satellite imagery and counter-drone technologies.

Registration closed.

Durrës, Western Balkans

7 Apr 2026

Young people aged 18-24 from the Western Balkans studying cybersecurity, IT or ICT and motivated to build a cybersecurity career.

Hands-on cyber training, cyber drills, AI-driven threats, misinformation and protection of critical digital infrastructure.

Travel and accommodation covered for selected participants.

Applications closed on 7 Apr 2026.

Timisoara, Romania

Priority event access until 6 May 2026

Open to software developers, engineers, designers, students, startup founders and professionals; solo participants can join and form teams.

Defense Technologies track for tools, systems or prototypes addressing real security, operational, infrastructure or dual-use challenges.

EUR 2,000 Best Defense prize within a EUR 6,000 total prize pool.

Event completed.

Prague, Czech Republic

Past event

Hackathon participants applied through Luma; visitors could access Demo Day as EDTH community members.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with prepared challenges, military feedback and field Demo Day.

Demo Day, field presentation and defence ecosystem access.

Past event.

Classified venue in Finland, Finland

6 May 2026, 23:55 UTC+3

Citizens of NATO countries, Switzerland or Ukraine; teams formed at the event with max team size of 4.

Defence technology across national security, cyber, space, AI and autonomous systems.

EUR 20,000 grand prize from 17Tech plus a guaranteed 17Tech defence accelerator spot with EUR 20,000 seed funding and mentorship.

Registration closed.

Stalowa Wola, Poland

Onsite registration closed 23 May 2026, 21:00

Programmers, engineers, designers, students, startup builders and other participants interested in space and defence technologies.

Space, defence, dual-use and cyber hackathon challenges focused on real space and defence-sector problems.

Financial, material and in-kind prizes, internships, training, study visits, mentoring, food and accommodation support.

Event completed on 24 May 2026.

Vilnius, Lithuania

Apply via Luma

Hackers, founders, engineers, mentors and defence-tech community participants; hacker registration is approval-based on Luma.

Dual-use and defence technology prototyping with operator, public-sector and investor feedback.

Registration is approval-based on Luma.

Final event at NATO Headquarters, Brussels, NATO-wide

11 Mar 2026

Young women aged 18-35 who are nationals of NATO member countries and are enrolled in or have completed university-level STEM studies, including social sciences.

Foresight scenarios for security and defence research: a day without space, power, internet, antibiotics or boots on the ground.

Up to 12 finalists recognised by the NATO Chief Scientist; three winners receive professional opportunities and further NATO STO engagement.

Closed but relevant 2026 route.

Riihimäki, Joensuu, Turku and Latvia, Finland and Latvia

15 Apr 2026

Organisations with TRL 6+ solutions, including technology companies, startups and defence-industry actors.

Layered counter-UAS: detection and sensor fusion, AI-enabled command and control, situational awareness, resilient connectivity and unmanned-system integration.

Access to NATO experimentation environment, Finnish Defence Forces and Allied defence/acquisition stakeholders, DEFINE C2 AI Lab validation and future funding pathways.

Applications closed on 15 Apr 2026.

Fast Track RFI and field testing with Hellenic Armed Forces, Greece

28 Apr 2026, 12:00 Greece time

Greek defence ecosystem entities with mature solutions of high technological readiness, including TRL 7+ systems.

Unmanned systems, UxS, UAV ISTAR, loitering munitions, kamikaze systems, USV, UUV and ground-based counter-UAS systems.

Rapid consultation and field testing with the Hellenic Armed Forces; possible follow-on development route.

Consultation phase 4-9 May 2026; field tests 8-12 Jun 2026.

Thun Military Training Area, Switzerland

31 Jan 2026

Companies and universities with robotic systems; event is aimed at military and public-security users, robotics researchers and industry.

Ground and aerial uncrewed systems in realistic military and civil scenarios: convoying, reconnaissance, robotic mule, search and rescue, casualty evacuation and explosive-remnants reconnaissance.

Non-competitive trial with realistic testing environment, demonstrations and direct user feedback.

Team registration closed.

Warsaw, Poland

10 May 2026

Polish OT and ICS cybersecurity solution providers operating at least one year, based in Poland and meeting Polish-capital requirements.

OT and industrial-control-system cybersecurity for critical infrastructure.

10 finalists, awards and networking with OT operators.

Applications closed.

Online qualifiers and onsite finals at Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, Luxembourg

Qualifier closes 1 May 2026

Everyone can participate in teaser and qualifier rounds; ECSC path requires birth after 31 Dec 2000 and Luxembourg citizenship or permanent residency.

CTF, cyber range, forensics, reverse engineering, web security, hardware security, pwn, crypto, network, steganography and OSINT.

Cyber range finals, Team Luxembourg selection and ECSC preparation.

Qualifier closed 1 May 2026; finals on 11 Jul 2026.

Bundeswehr University Munich / CODE annual meeting, Germany

17 May 2026

Individuals and teams from universities, research institutes, companies, startups, associations and organisations outside the Bundeswehr.

Cyber and IT ideas for military use: analytics, simulation, collaboration, communications, information security, geoinformation, infrastructure, cloud and IT management.

Pitches on 14 Jul 2026, prizes up to EUR 15,000 and possible demos or application tests with Bundeswehr-related offices.

Submission deadline extended to 17 May 2026.

University venues across Italy and national final, Italy

25 Jan 2026

Young people aged 16-24 as of 31 Dec 2025, able to reach a participating university venue and attend the training and competitions.

Cybersecurity training, local CTF competitions, national Attack & Defense final and TeamItaly pathway.

Training, local competitions, national final, meals and accommodation at the national competition, and route toward international cyber competitions.

National final exact July dates not yet published on the official rules page.

Brave1 portal, Ukraine and NATO testing routes, Ukraine and NATO

Application portal opened May 2026

Legal entities registered in Ukraine or NATO jurisdictions; no Russia, Belarus or Iran ties; no state-owned companies, humanitarian organisations or individuals.

Active protection against FPV drones, Counter-Shahed systems, SIGINT and electromagnetic capabilities, autonomous guidance systems and high-altitude platforms.

EUR 10m first-competition budget; up to EUR 1m per joint project, with testing via Test in Ukraine and possible NATO testing sites.

First competition winners expected July 2026.

Oslo and United States programme weeks, Norway

20 Apr 2026

Companies with technologies, products or services connected to Norwegian, US and allied defence.

Defence-company launchpad for Norwegian companies entering allied defence markets, with Norway-US defence industry support.

Competence programme, Oslo kickoff, US programme weeks and defence-market network access; NOK 50,000 company fee.

Applications closed on 20 Apr 2026.

Online qualifier and Linz final, Austria

1 May 2026, 18:00 CEST

Junior and senior finalist categories require Austrian citizenship, Austrian residence or enrolment in an Austrian educational institution; open category is available to all security-interested people.

Jeopardy-style CTF qualification with junior, senior and open categories, followed by team-based finale.

Finalist route to Linz finale and Team Austria selection.

Online qualifier closed on 1 May 2026; final scheduled for 14-17 Sep 2026 in Linz.

Live testing at Santa Margarida Military Training Area, Portugal

4 Jun 2026, 12:00 Brussels time

Industry teams able to provide complete Class I aerial loitering munition systems up to 25 kg take-off mass and up to 40 km range.

Aerial loitering munitions and live-test performance across the precision-strike mission cycle.

Up to EUR 2m prize budget: up to EUR 200,000 for Stage 1 and up to EUR 1.8m for Stage 2.

Mature teams only.

Karlskrona / BTH Campus Gräsvik, Sweden

1 Mar 2026

Registered Blekinge Institute of Technology students; teams usually 2-5, with selected teams receiving support.

Maritime technology challenges including future naval defence, underwater situational awareness, LUUV subsystems, maritime drone training, GNSS-denied USV docking and autonomous mooring.

SEK 50,000 project stipend per selected team plus mentoring, lab access, resources and expert contacts.

Applications closed.

Online first stage and onsite second stage in Vilnius, Lithuania

16 Feb 2026

Young people up to age 25; national-team route applies through the Lithuanian youth cyber-security team process.

Interactive capture-the-flag cybersecurity tasks, onsite selection and bootcamps.

Prizes, bootcamps and chance to represent Lithuania at the European Cybersecurity Challenge.

Registration closed on 16 Feb 2026.

TU Dublin Blanchardstown, Dublin and ECSC qualifier route, Ireland

ZeroDays CTF on 21 Mar 2026

Cyber-Schools targets secondary students; ZeroDays CTF targets students, university graduates and ICT professionals; eligible high performers can be invited to Ireland's ECSC qualifiers.

Capture-the-flag cyber competitions and Ireland ECSC team selection.

Ireland ECSC qualifier invitation route and national cyber community exposure.

ECSC qualifiers planned for Aug 2026; final ECSC in Oct 2026.

DTU Science Park and Danish national programme, Denmark

5 Oct 2025 for 2026 cohort

Danish startups and SMEs with technologies for or originating from the defence industry; company requirements are handled through the official programme application process.

Cyber and communications, resilience, energy, advanced technology, crisis response, sensors, drones, unmanned systems and maritime technology.

Mentoring, development sprints, investor exposure, testing and lab access, plus possible demonstrations with DALO and military exercises.

2026 cohort applications closed in 2025.

Charleroi and Bruges Cyber Defense Factories, Belgium

8 Mar 2026

Belgian innovators from research, education, universities, federal scientific institutions and private companies; triple-helix consortia preferred and at least one private company required.

Securing IoT in defence and dual-use contexts, including connected objects in land, air, maritime and naval domains.

EUR 1.8m total envelope; up to EUR 150,000 per project; access to CDF ecosystems and infrastructure.

Applications closed.

Dutch open innovation competition, Netherlands

9 Feb 2026, 12:00

Entrepreneurs and organisations able to offer innovative technological solutions through the open competition process.

Space technology for the security domain: national-security space capabilities, SSA, sensors, satellite data, resilient positioning/timing and protection of space infrastructure.

EUR 3.9m budget including VAT for R&D assignments through a pre-commercial open competition.

Applications closed on 9 Feb 2026; project completion planned for 13 Mar 2028.