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NDIA Hackathon 2025

National Defense Industrial Association is bringing warfighters and hackers together for a high-impact, week-long Defense Technologies Hackathon, August 25-29. Kicking off at George Mason University's cutting-edge FUSE facility and culminating at NDIA's Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition, this event links Department of Defense challengers with industry innovation in real time - across the globe. To see the Top 10 Scoreboard, login and access it via the Dashboard.

3401 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201
Aug 25 - Aug 29, 2025
458 Attendees Registered

About The Event

Explore the innovations that will shape national security for the next century at NDIA’s flagship Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition August 27-29 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Hear directly from technology leaders in government, defense industry, the commercial sector, and academia on cutting edge developments, operational needs, and business opportunities in critical mission areas. From DC to forward deployed commands, team will build, test, and deploy unclassified solutions to real operational needs-creating a 24/7 cycle of defense ingenuity. Whether you're in uniform, behind a console, or coding in the field - this is where your mission meets momentum.

Event Stats

689 Users
458 Confirmed Registrations
51 Teams
37 Use Cases
8 Use Case Categories
38 Datasets

Live Scoreboard

Current standings of competing teams

FUSE Facilty

Rank Team Project Technical Innovation Mission Impact Usability & Design Security & Sustainability Team Collaboration Weighted Score Judges
1
Mark All As CUI Mark All As CUI
- 8.1 8.5 8.3 8.2 7.6 8.23 11
2
MEDAL MEDAL
- 7.2 8.4 8.1 6.5 8.5 7.77 8
3
SpecDOps Force SpecDOps Force
Image Threat Detection and Classification 7.5 8.1 7.2 7.5 9.0 7.77 11
4
Scout Team 1 Scout Team 1
Lancealot 7.0 8.4 8.0 5.8 7.8 7.52 5
5
Stark Industries Stark Industries
Eye of Jarvis 7.1 7.3 7.3 8.1 7.6 7.41 7
6
LIFT LIFT
Learning Insights for Flying Training (LIFT) 6.8 8.2 6.8 7.1 8.0 7.39 13
7
DedSec. DedSec.
Mira View 7.0 6.9 8.3 6.7 8.3 7.30 7
8
Qlik Around and Find Out Qlik Around and Find Out
Guardians of the Q-laxy 6.9 6.7 8.4 6.1 8.1 7.14 9
9
SkyEyes SkyEyes
AegisNET: CONUS-Wide Drone Defense at the Tactical Edge 6.8 8.0 7.4 6.0 6.0 7.08 10
10
#WreakHaevek #WreakHaevek
- 7.6 7.6 5.4 7.0 7.1 7.03 11

Outstations

FUSE Facilty Logo
FUSE Facilty
AFRICOM Logo
AFRICOM
EUCOM Logo
EUCOM
MARFORPAC (K-Bay) Logo
MARFORPAC (K-Bay)
MARFORPAC (PIZ) Logo
MARFORPAC (PIZ)

Use Case Categories

  • Other
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Contested Logistics
  • Policy Modernization
  • Autonomous Unmanned Systems
  • ISR
  • Geospatial Analytics
  • Force Readiness

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Innovation (25%) Judges are looking for originality, feasibility, and technical depth.
  • Mission Impact (30%) How well the solution aligns with defense priorities and real-world use cases.
  • Usability & Design (20%) Clarity of the demo, ease of use, and potential for reuse or extension.
  • Security & Sustainability (15%) Readiness for DoD testing, long-term viability, and maintainability.
  • Team Collaboration (10%) Teamwork, presentation quality, and resilience under pressure.

Schedule Overview

View Full Schedule
Time Event Location Speaker
Early Check-in/ Badging Fuse Exchange N/A
Check In / Badging
No On-site Registration.
Fuse Exchange N/A
2025 NDIA Global Hackathon Official Kick-off
Welcome & Greetings, Security & Safety Acceptable Use Briefs, learn about National Defense...
Fuse Conference Center Nick Lanham, Charles Ott, Culley Horne, NDIA Leadership

NDIA/ETI Hackathon Sponsors

All Sponsors
Tier 1
Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis.

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Tier 1
Maximus

Maximus Inc. is an American government services company, with operations in countries including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

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Tier 1
Palantir

Palantir Technologies Inc. is an American publicly traded company that specializes in software platforms for big data analytics.

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Tier 1
Nalej

Operator of a full-stack enterprise open-source platform intended to support artificial intelligence and edge-native operations across hybrid infrastructure environments. The company offers secure, modular technologies including development, security, and operations; artificial intelligence and machine learning operations; and cyber operations, enabling defense, government, and enterprise users to deploy compliant, air-gapped, and dynamically programmable systems across tactical edge networks.

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Tier 2
Accenture Federal Services

Accenture Federal Services is a subsidiary of Accenture focused on providing consulting and technology services to the U.S. federal government. The company leverages its global expertise to address the unique needs of federal agencies

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Tier 2
Qlik

Qlik provides a data integration, analytics, and artificial intelligence platform to over 40,000 global customers. Qlik's Associative Engine lets users do big data analytics, combining a number of data sources so that associations and connections can be formed across the data.

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Tier 2
Parsons

Parsons Corporation is an American multinational technology-focused defense, intelligence, and infrastructure engineering firm. Founded in 1944, Parsons is headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, and serves both government and private sector organizations in more than 30 countries.

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Tier 3
Chainguard

Chainguard is a company that provides software supply chain security solutions. It offers 1,500+ trusted container images to eliminate vulnerabilities and mitigate malware.

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Tier 3
Reliance Advisory

Reliance Advisory is a Small Business specializing in Information Governance, System Integration, Federal Financial Management, and Audit Remediation & Sustainment. Reliance Advisory supports the Data Sharing process for this event!

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Tier 3
IntelliTech

IntelliTech is a minority-owned, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) delivering secure, scalable software solutions to commercial and federal clients. We specialize in building digital platforms that integrate cloud-native services, AI-driven capabilities, and modern SaaS tools—transforming business operations and mission readiness through intelligent, real-world solutions.

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Tier 3
Dunedain

Developer of a military AI assistant intended to streamline daily tasks for military personnel. Dunedain empowers military personnel with a revolutionary platform that optimizes their daily routines and streamlines a vast array of tasks, from generating orders and managing logistics to facilitating maintenance procedures, enabling clients to enhance their efficiency, improve mission focus, and ultimately achieve greater operational success.

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Tier 3
Confluent

Stream, connect, process, and govern your data with an all-in-one, real-time platform from the pioneer in data streaming. Build faster, scale smarter, and turn data chaos into instantly accessible and usable data products with the market leading Data Streaming Platform.

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Tier 3
KAIROS

KAIROS is a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) specializing in Life Cycle Program Management, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Logistics and Sustainment, Enterprise Platforms and AI, and Additive Manufacturing services.

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Tier 3
Kamiwaza

Developer of an open-source coding platform designed to develop applications or run a server. The company's platform offers improved deployment and configuration management, advanced error handling and logging, scalability, and flexibility enhancements, enabling developers to optimize performance and efficiency through enhanced model configuration deployment processes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Usernames are EXACT, which means they are case sensitive and can include whitespace. While we work to resolve this, you can also login with your email address which is also case-sensitive. If you cannot login with either, please email a support request to hackathon-support@ndia.org and we will resolve as soon as we can.

Contact an Admin for the Portal using hackathon-support@ndia.org and request your use case category. If approved it will be added to the options.

You can expect a welcoming, safe, and open-minded environment with experts across a variety of domains in Defense. Teams can form organically through connecting with others who have common interests at the event, or you can form your team ahead of time through this portal. If you're having trouble finding a team, our volunteers can help get your profile and skills showcased to other teams looking for help from someone with your talent. While there are competitive elements to this challenge, it is an opportunity for everyone to come together and understand how NDIA promotes cooperation across Industry, Academia and Defense organizations.

First, contact us and we can change your role if needed. User roles are for those who intend to Volunteer, Judge, or maybe arent sure yet, but know they will attend. Hackers can form Teams, join Teams and browse the data catalog to see what data might inform their use case. Sponsors provide Data or other resources for the event. Sponsors are NDIA Corporate Members or will be verified with Data Sharing Agreement or other arrangements.

Includes full access to all hackathon sessions, workshops, networking events, and light refreshments and beverages at the GMU FUSE facility. If selected as a semifinalist, you will receive full registration to the Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition. Hackathon participants who are not selected as semifinalists will be offered a significantly discounted conference registration.

Arlington Virginia offers public transportation as well as ride sharing.

The Fuse Facility will have some snacks and beverages; however, participants are encouraged to explore the local fare. There are many cuisine options in Arlington, our volunteer staff and tools such as Google Maps and Yelp can help find some great options.

Frequently! We will be adding content, sponsors, schedule updates and even unlocking some new features as we get closer to the event!

This event is for U.S. Participation only. We hope to expand participation in future events.

Resources & Links

Conference Website
https://www.ndiatechexpo.org
Conference Pricing (Hackathon Registration is Free)
https://www.ndiatechexpo.org/registration-pricing
Support
mailto:hackathon-support@ndia.org