CASSINI Hackathon 2023 "Space for Defence and Security"
Between the 24th and 26th of March the fifth edition of CASSINI Hackathons took place, and this year the theme of the hackathon was "Space for Defence and Security". The competition was held in ten countries, and for the first year Bulgaria took part with the organizer RST-TTO.
Sixteen teams participated for Bulgaria, creating projects addressing one of the three challenges 
of the hackathon:
- Enabling cross-terrain mobility;
- Making the seas safer;
- Protecting our critical infrastructure.
The teams had the support of mentors, experts in the field, who assisted them in developing their ideas and using space data and tools. Informational sessions were also organized before and during the hackathon to prepare the participants and there were interactions between the local organizers and the Central Hub throughout the whole event.
In Bulgaria, the event started with a conference on Space for Defence and Security: 'Balkan & Black Sea perspectives - II'. Leading specialists from European institutions and the Bulgarian state administration participated.
During the three days of the hackathon at the Central Military Club in Sofia the teams worked hard to develop their projects and prepare presentations about them. On the last day of the hackathon, they presented their projects to a seven-member jury. First places went to:
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1st place: ExpLORA
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2nd place: Air force academy
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3rd place: Thermopylae
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For the winners, there were cash prizes worth a total of 3,500 euros, as well as cloud resource vouchers from Mundi worth 3,500 euros and three months of mentoring from experts in the field. Material prizes were also given to all participants and other special prizes. These were provided by the event sponsors Atos Bulgaria, Digital Lights and LLcloud Ltd.
During the Demo Day, which was broadcast at a European level, the Bulgarian winning team presented the ExpLORA project.
More information about the event the CASSINI Hackathon 2023 "Space for Defence and Security":
