The II edition of the European Defence Challenge is open.

A great opportunity to boost your career and open new horizons. Register now!

The European Defence Challenge is an open competition to attract young talent to the Defence industry and to encourage them to initiate a career in defence-related technologies. The challenge asks European students to propose one or more work approaches dealing with topics such as artificial intelligence, sensor technologies, autonomous vehicles, data science, cybersecurity, chip technologies, control, robotics, signal and image processing, and defence-related technologies.

The launch of the II edition took place last October 20, a day before the Conference on Future Skills for Europe’s Aerospace and Defence Industry in Rzeszow (Poland). Our partners Liga Baltina, from Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, and Mateo Burgos from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) organizer of this edition, presented all the details of the challenge.

This edition topic:

Remote everything? To what extent can unmanned assets interact with humans in the field for defence operations?

Students have to write an essay that must present a new usage or suggest improvements on a new technology. Not only technological, but also socio-economic, political, ethical and environmental aspects have to be taken into account.

The challenge  can be answered individually, but participants are strongly encouraged to team up in pairs and to find a partner from a different university, faculty and even country.

Who can participate

The challenge is open to all undergraduate or graduate students from all faculties in European Universities, vocational education and training centres and other institutions dedicated to education.

The contest is organised in two selection phases, with a highly professional jury.

Timeline

PHASE 1:
Answer the question by proposing your ideas
A jury of some of the key players in the European defence industry will review the proposals. The best ones move to phase 2.
– 14 January 2022: deadline for 1-page submission
– 15 February 2022: Pre-selection

PHASE 2:
Develop your ideas
Submit a 10-page proposal by adding details, figures, graphics to your initial proposal.

-14 April 2022: deadline for 10-page submission
-27 May 2022: Winners announcement

Online seminars

Participants will be welcome to attend several short webinars focused on helping them to prepare good essays

PHASE I

• Critical Thinking: November 26, 2021 (11:00-13:00 CET)
• Defence Awareness: December 1, 2021
• Query Design: December 9, 2021 (14:00-16:00 CET)
• Writing Reports: December 13, 2021 (14:00-16:00 CET)

PHASE II

• Webinar with defence experts: February 25, 2022

NOTE: Attending webinars is optional. They are provided as complementary courses for students that are interested in acquiring additional information. The webinars will be recorded and made available for future reference, if desired.

Awards

– The 3 finalist teams will be announced on our web & social media and will participate in the awards ceremony.

– Meeting with a Human Resources manager of leading defence industries in Europe (CV, job interview)

– Each member of the winning team will receive a technology gadget personalised by our supporting industrial partners.

SPECIAL MENTION TO YOUNG PARTICIPANTS:

The best essay from students up to 20 years old will receive a personalised technology gadget and a special mention in our web & social media.

Some figures of the first edition:

• 147 students registered
• 40% of the participants women
• More than 50 higher-education institutions
• 20 countries

QUESTIONS: challenge@assets-plus.eu