The organisers welcome aspiring newcomers, advanced coders, professional entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and all others who wish to build innovative products to power peace across the continent.

Three winners will have the opportunity to implement their ideas and build products with guidelines from investors and mentors.

Why it’s so important

The unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine’s peaceful and independent country shows that no one should feel safe today. However, there are ways to be better prepared for even the most unthinkable events.

The largest war on European soil is already taking place with hundreds of jets barraging the sky and thousands of tanks ruffling the Ukrainian ground. The threat of all-out WWIII is as real as ever before.

That is why today businesses are creating and updating their contingency plans and governments are seeking ways to be well prepared for such threats. However, many citizens often don’t know what to expect and what to do in order to stay safe. Tech products and innovative solutions can help solve the problems associated with the war.

Format and details

The event will be held on October 21-23 in five countries – Ukraine, the UK, Sweden, Poland, and Portugal. Participants will gather offline in different locations, yet they’ll be connected to other venues via teleconferencing. Thus, they will be able to exchange ideas in person and across different countries as well.

The hackathon will include four tracks – Cybersecurity, Information Hygiene and Media Wars; Mental Health; Kids Education; Logistics in Terms of War.

Hack for Peace will empower those who want to make an impact and contribute to the creation of anti-war tech products. Participants can look forward to an exciting weekend filled with learning, fun, and a healthy dose of competition – fuelled by powerful mentorship support.

Admission is free. Anyone can apply as an individual or as a team. Organisers will give preference to participants with existing ideas. The deadline for registration as a participant or as a mentor is September 30th.

Speaking about the upcoming hackathon, Valery Krasovsky, CEO and Co-Founder at Sigma Software Group said: “Our company is once again contributing to the tech ecosystem development. Hack for Peace is a unique Cross-European project that will gather developers, product managers, startup founders, and investors to create life-changing solutions to make the world a better and safer place. Moreover, we will invite investors and mentors that will guide teams in the right direction where they will be able to get financial support in order to launch their products.”

Josh Winfield, Global Talent Visa Lead at Tech Nation says that his organisation is committed to accelerating the UK tech sector's strong response to the war in Ukraine: “Across our networks, we have seen tech leaders supporting individuals affected by this tragedy and striving to ensure that Ukrainian's vibrant tech ecosystem continues to function and flourish in the future.

“We have worked to support this effort both by prioritising our Global Talent Visa applications from Ukrainian applicants and also launching our International Founders Office hours with the support of Blue Lake VC – a Ukrainian VC firm operating out of London – to support direct access to the UK VC network for Ukrainian tech founders.

“We see our support of Hack For Peace as a natural continuation of our support for the brilliant people of Ukraine across all sectors, tech or otherwise."

Project’s lead Alexandra Govorukha adds: “We believe that the joint efforts of the Hack for Peace participants from all five countries will bring new great anti-war tech solutions to Europe. We will unite different experiences, business cultures, and competencies on one platform.”

Partners are Founder Institute, Startup Grind Nordics, Startup Poland, SID Venture Partners, LACS, Nutty Ventures AB, Techfugees, Blue Lake, TechUkraine, Sigma Software Labs, and Sigma Software University.

Government support is provided by: the Ukrainian Startup Fund, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Embassy of Sweden in Poland, Embassy of Ukraine in the UK, and Embassy of Ukraine in Sweden.