THE EYE: From Hackathon to Defense Tech Innovation

The Challenge

A month ago, I joined Bartek, Stanisław, and Kamil, with Jakub supporting remotely, at the European Defense Tech Hackathon. The event brought together engineers, defense professionals, and investors to tackle a pressing question: How can technology address emerging security challenges in an era of hybrid warfare?

We had 48 hours to build something meaningful.

Why This Matters

As aerial threats become more sophisticated, existing detection infrastructure falls substantially behind. Traditional defense systems are expensive, slow to deploy, and often limited to fixed installations. Meanwhile, adversaries are leveraging consumer-grade drones for reconnaissance, disruption, and worse.

Advancing defense innovation is no longer optional — it's essential.

THE EYE: Distributed Intelligence for Aerial Threat Detection

Our answer was THE EYE — an edge-powered drone detection system designed for deployment within minutes using off-the-shelf devices.

Core Concept

The system leverages computer vision and distributed edge processing to identify aerial threats in real-time, transforming standard cameras and mobile devices into intelligent detection nodes. It can be deployed within minutes across any operational environment.

My Role: Backend Architecture

While the team tackled computer vision models and edge deployment, I focused on the backend infrastructure:

• Sensor data pipelines — Aggregating detection events from distributed nodes in real-time
• RESTful API — Enabling command centers to query system status, configure detection parameters, and receive alerts
• Scalability — Designing for hundreds of concurrent sensor nodes without bottlenecks

The backend needed to be lightweight enough to run on edge hardware yet robust enough to coordinate a distributed network under operational stress.

The Hackathon Experience

We developed the prototype over 48 hours, collaborating with participants from venture capital, military, and technical backgrounds. The event provided access to domain experts who validated operational requirements and identified deployment constraints.

Key takeaways:

• Speed over perfection — We shipped a functional prototype, not a polished product
• Collaboration matters — Each team member's expertise was critical (CV, edge deployment, backend, product)
• Real-world constraints — Defense tech isn't about flashy demos; it's about reliability, latency, and deployment simplicity

What's Next

We're not stopping at the hackathon. Our team continues to work on THE EYE, refining the system and exploring real-world deployment scenarios.

We're actively seeking strategic partnerships and funding to accelerate development. If you're working in defense innovation, critical infrastructure protection, or edge AI — I'd love to connect.

Learn more: the-eye.org

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Reflections

This project demonstrated the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration on operational security challenges. Defense tech requires delivering technology that can protect people and infrastructure under real-world conditions.

If you'd like to explore partnership opportunities or discuss the project, feel free to reach out.