The first hackathon will focus on real-time incident response and take place on 26-27 November 2018.

The second will be a defence logistics hackathon, taking place on 29-30 November 2018.

For these events, we are looking to bring together the best from academia, industry and government in the defence and security arena.

Brief details about the hackathons are as follows:

Real-Time Incident Response Hackathon

Improving the way we investigate incidents through the application of Multimedia Analysis and Artificial Intelligence

Participants will be asked to process large amounts of real-world incident multimedia data and rapidly identify key information for on-site experts – people, places, events, in fact anything that may assist an investigations team. We’re interested in how entities relate to each other, the event timeline and narrative, and near-term predictions. Data will mostly take the form of video which will be varied in quality, source, and format. Some will be live-streamed during the event.

This is a unique opportunity for participants to demonstrate their ability to extract useful information and insights from large multimedia data sources which would help teams to respond to incidents more quickly and effectively. We expect participants to exploit cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence techniques, including Machine Vision, to achieve the best results.

At the end of the second day a final showcase will take place.

Defence Logistics Hackathon

Accelerating Logistics Decision Support through exploiting Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) capabilities

The intent of this hackathon is to demonstrate the ability to analyse and share structured and unstructured multi-source data maintaining its classification and permission based access rules at machine speed. Data sets from the C130J Hercules platform will be provided to enable the development and testing of potential sharing solutions. The longer-term aim will be the development of predictive maintenance tools, and provides evidence based recommendations to optimise inventory checks and extend the life of components.

This event will require programmers and coders at the leading edge of current technology to develop an AI/ML capability that can be accessed, interrogated and translated to provide better informed and timely decision support across national and multinational domains.

This event will provide a great opportunity to demonstrate your ability to solve current Defence Logistic challenges, as well as the opportunity to network with senior decision makers and end users within this area. Following the event you will be invited to submit a fully costed proposal which could lead to securing funding to further develop your product.

Further details about these hackathons and how to register will be provided on the DASA website next week.

Prime Minister Theresa May today held a bilateral meeting with Premier Li of China at the Asem summit in Brussels.

The two leaders began by discussing the Prime Minister’s successful visit to China earlier this year, when she had been joined by a UK trade delegation.

They discussed the opportunity to build further upon that visit, and the golden era in UK-China relations. Premier Li said he looked forward to ushering in a diamond era in the relationship.

The Prime Minister updated Premier Li on the Brexit negotiations. She said she looked forward to further strengthening our economic ties with China, including our trade relationship, in the future.

The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s firm commitment to the rules based international system, including the importance of freedom of navigation and maritime security, in line with international law.

On Hong Kong, they agreed on the continued importance of one country, two systems.

Prime Minister Theresa May today held a bilateral meeting with President Moon of South Korea at the Asem summit in Brussels.

The two leaders looked forward to further strengthening ties between the two countries both now and once the UK leaves the European Union.

They agreed to work closely together to transition over the existing trade agreement between South Korea and the European Union. They would then look forward to further improving trade ties between the two countries in the future.

The Prime Minister praised President Moon for the steps he had taken which had led to progress in the Korean peninsula.

The Prime Minister said it was important for DPRK to take concrete steps towards denuclearisation, and pressure should be maintained on DPRK with sanctions.

Published 19 October 2018