The first London Defense Technology Hackathon was organized to bring together ideas to help Ukraine. The initiative brought together experts in technology, venture capital and national security, TechCrunch reports.

The hackathon was organized at a time when the UK announced a large-scale package of military support for our country, which will amount to 3 billion pounds this fiscal year.

“But while most of those funds will be spent on very traditional military hardware, a new tech initiative launched last weekend was aimed at enhancing Ukraine’s asymmetric warfare capabilities against Russia,” the media outlet writes.

The event was organized by Alex Fitzgerald from Skyral and Richard Pass from Future Forces, and co-organizers included: Honourable Artillery Company, Apollo Defense, Lambda Automata, and D3 VC.

The event brought together developers with experience in both hardware and software to promote innovation in defense, national security, and high tech.

“There was a key focus on drones and their applications on the battlefield, both the hardware and the electronic systems needed to fly them to their targets and counter-drone systems,” the publication writes.

Catarina Buchatskiy of Apollo Defense, a Ukrainian by birth, is convinced that defense technology is a complex industry that is difficult to enter.

“We’ve found hackathons an extremely exciting way for people to get involved because defense technology can seem like a giant black box of contracts that take 10 years, and technologies that are built [are often] hidden from the public eye. At a hackathon, you have 24 hours. Make something really cool,” she said.

Among others, the hackathon was also attended by representatives of the NATO Investment Fund. Patrick Schneider-Sikorski, a partner of the fund, said that it was created to support startups “that bolster our collective defense security and resilience.”