European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon

Behind every demo is a story 🌎 At the #CriticalHack2026 we spoke with participants about their journey through the 24-hour challenge. Here’s a glimpse of what it takes to build under pressure ⬇️ Vidoc Security Lab | European Defense Tech

Would you be able to turn a critical security challenge into a working demo in just 24 hours? This is what building security solutions at speed really looks like 🌀 At the European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon, teams from across Europe came together to tackle real challenges facing critical infrastructure today. From the first idea to a live demo, they had just 24 hours to make it happen - supported by mentors, experts, and a room full of driven builders. Vidoc Security Lab | European Defense Tech

24 hours, tons of code and one goal: securing Europe’s critical infrastructure 🇪🇺 Check out the teams that took home the trophies and the honorary mentions that kept the bar high! Huge thanks to everyone who showed up! The defense tech community in Europe is just getting started. Vidoc Security Lab | European Defense Tech

You wake up to another headline about war, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, lack of stability, and you ask yourself - what can I do about it? Act. Do what you can do best. In case of Vidoc team, we build and secure. This is why last week we hosted a European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon, along with our partners from Lovable, ElevenLabs, and European Defense Tech. And we did it in Gdańsk, Poland. We did it because we believe in giving back to the community and supporting other founders. Because we believe that now we need secure and independent critical infrastructure. Because seeing the rise of cyberattacks all over the US and Europe made us understand that hybrid war is already there, and the only means to protect ourselves is to empower the best engineers. And work on the solutions together. At Vidoc Security Lab we secure both human and AI-written code because we understand the risk and know security is more important than ever if you are building in these uncertain times. Our customers know that now everybody is a target - the question is: are you already aware, or will you be? I would like to give a special thank you to Aleksandra Pedraszewska and Shaheer Hussam for their support and being part of the jury. Also, we had representation of mentors from Silicon Valley - people who build and create there now inspire others - thank you Patrycja Brzozowska, Jakub Penkala, and Michal Wyrebkowski. Fingers crossed for your initiative.

To our sponsors - thank you for being part of #CriticalHack2026. Events like this wouldn’t be possible without your involvement. Thank you for your trust and for contributing to an event focused on collaboration and real-world challenges in critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. Your contribution helped create an environment where teams could build ideas and exchange knowledge throughout the hackathon. We truly appreciate it 💙 Thank you! → Organizers: Vidoc Security Lab, European Defense Tech → Partnership: Lovable → Strategic Partners: InvestGDA, Pomorska Specjalna Strefa Ekonomiczna → Honorary Patronages: Mayor of the City of Gdańsk Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Governor of Pomerania Region Beata Rutkiewicz, Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji → Silver Sponsor: Air Space Intelligence → Bronze Sponsors: Inovo.vc, Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR) → Technology Partners: NVIDIA, ElevenLabs, Bielik AI → Partners: Inkubator STARTER, No-Code Poland, PSPA, Infoshare | Shape Tomorrow Today → Expert Partners: Blue Dot Solutions, OutlineAI, PilotGo.ai, PLZ Spółdzielnia, Polski Krzem, Mikr.us, The Energy Bridge, WithSecure, Fundacja Panoptykon → Media Partner: Kosmonauta.net → Community Partners: Knyfyrtel Hackerspace Poznań, Polska Grupa Użytkowników Linuxa, Hackerspace Pomorze, Rust Poland, PyGDA, PyCon PL, Hackerspace Łódź (Stowarzyszenie Hakierspejs Łódź)

💬 This is exactly why we created European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon - to bring the right people and perspectives into significant conversations on Europe’s resilience ↓ https://lnkd.in/dmbS2BCZ

📸 Photos from #CriticalHack2026 are now available! Moments from an inspiring few days in Gdańsk are now live. The gallery captures the energy and creativity that defined #CriticalHack2026. 👉 Check out the photos here: https://lnkd.in/dUCi8vNr More photos will be added, stay tuned.

After a few inspiring days at #CriticalHack2026 in Gdańsk, we would like to highlight the teams that received honorary mentions for their work. → ColdWarOnTheRocks: Mateusz Zalega, Iryna Doroshenko, Maciej Grela → Mesh: Denis Chocianowicz, Olgierd Golub, Patryk Raba, Shubham Kapoor → Opendiscovery: Rafał Draws, Wojciech Kargul → VariatyCo: Michał Meyer, Mateusz Mielewczyk, Filip Nowak, Kacper Olszewski, Joanna Wachowska → Wnuki Makajlera: Piotr Łopatecki, Dmytrii Mehalatii, Mirosław Jakieła, Jan Skrobot, Kamil Porębski These teams truly stood out by delivering solutions that directly addressed the core challenges of the hackathon. Thank you all for being part of European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon - your creativity and collaboration made this event unforgettable. Vidoc Security Lab | European Defense Tech