More than 500 people gathered in Silicon Valley for the first Silicon Valley National Security Hackathon to develop solutions for national security on the eve of the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco.
May 6, 2024–(San Francisco, CA) –More than 500 people gathered in Silicon Valley for the first Silicon Valley National Security Hackathon to develop solutions for national security on the eve of the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco. The event attracted engineers, government leaders, students, company founders, and investors for a weekend focused on developing solutions for specific technical challenges in national security. Shield Capital along with Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel, Anduril, Vannevar Labs, sponsored the 48-hour solution sprint, which began on May 4th.
Problem sets were curated by government stakeholders that included representatives from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC), the DoD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), the Defense Digital Service (DDS), the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and Ukrainian warfighters.
Problem statements included digital drone resilience and operation, next generation intelligence analysis, computational logistics and reporting, and AI-enhanced telemetry and sensing.
Over 50 teams pitched solutions to problem statement stakeholders and investors leading to 8 finalists. Teams built laser-powered counter UAS systems, automated intelligence report generation tools, and levitating space crystals to name a few. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams won cash prizes and Starlink terminal access.
Judges and mentors included participants from the CIA, DIU, Stanford, technology startups and venture capital firms. Guest speakers highlighted four ways how people can be involved: start a company that will work on national security technology challenges, work for a company that will work on national security challenges, serve in uniform or work for the government.
The winning solutions and team include:
1st Place: AI Laser Sentinel (Margarita Geleta, Michael LaFramboise, John Marmaduke, Justin Zelaya) built an AI-powered laser system that can shoot enemy drones out of the sky. You can follow their journey building this system here.
2nd Place: Overwatch (Brian Wu, Justin Lin, Ian Kim, Pavan Agareal) deployed computer vision models on drones for object localization without GPS.
3rd Place: Panopsis (Artur Kiulian, Artem Kalyta, Martin Bach, Philippe Brule) built a system to automatically generate spot reports that send timely intelligence or status regarding events reports based on satellite data, social media data, and audio data. and audio data
“We see no shortage of new talent or technology that could potentially solve the tough challenges that our nation faces,” said Raj Shah, managing partner of Shield Capital, and one of the sponsors of the event. “Hackathons provide an opportunity to lower the barriers to entry, foster creativity, and provide the government with new potential solutions sets.”
Hosts of the event included Stanford's Defense Tech Club, Stanford Gordian Knot Center, and Cerebral Valley. The Hackathon took place at San Francisco’s Shack15 preceded by a kick-off social of the weekend’s activities at Stanford University.
About Shield Capital
Shield Capital is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage companies building technologies that matter in artificial intelligence, autonomy, cybersecurity, and space. SHIELD’s veteran team of founders, investors, and national security leaders is mission-focused in support of entrepreneurs addressing the convergence of commercial industry and national security. Mission Matters at SHIELD. Learn more at www.shieldcap.com.
Contact: media@shieldcap.com