A great opportunity for students to boost their careers and open new horizons.
The European Defence Challenge is an open competition to attract young talent to the Aerospace & Defence industry and to encourage them to initiate a career in defence-related technologies.
The Challenge invites European students to think about a current problem in the domain of Aerospace & Defence and propose a solution.
The 6th edition of the European Defence Challenge, hosted by Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Rzeszów University of Technology, challenged participants to explore the theme “From STEM to Strategy: Empowering Young Minds to Shape Europe’s Aerospace & Defence Future.”
Bringing together talented students from across Europe, the competition showcased innovative ideas aimed at strengthening the future of the European defence and aerospace ecosystem.
The winners were announced during the official awards ceremony held on 5 June 2026 at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels. Download the agenda here.
Patrycja Paleń and Maciej Dec, from Rzeszow University of Technology (Poland) with the proposal “Strategic Defence Talent Academy: An Intelligent Educational Ecosystem Integrating STEM, Real Defence Challenges and Workforce Planning for Europe”
Alix Raynaud de Lage and Anna Paszek, from Sciences Po Lille (France) with the proposal “A Defense Erasmus: one year, three perspectives, one European defense”.
Clémence Menard and Hadrien Matignon, from Sciences Po Lille (France) with the proposal “Orbital Europe – spreading european strategic culture at all levels”.
Congratulations to all the winning teams!
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the hosts of this edition, speakers, evaluators, and contributors whose dedication and expertise made this event possible. Your support has been instrumental in the success of this 6th edition.
Finally, thank you to all participants for sharing your ideas, talent, and vision with the European defence innovation community.
We look forward to seeing you in the next edition. Stay tuned!
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WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
All undergraduate or graduate students from all faculties in European universities, vocational education and training centres and other institutions dedicated to education.
Students are strongly encouraged to team up in pairs, finding a partner in a different university or country.
GUIDELINES
Register here.
Write a 1 page proposal (500-600 words) and submit it to: challenge@assets-plus.eu
If your proposal is selected for the second stage of the Challenge, you will be asked to expand the description to 10 pages (5000-6000 words) which should be a development of the previously submitted proposal
IMPORTANT: Students are strongly encouraged to team up in pairs, finding a partner in a different university or country. Teams will get an additional point in the final score.
A fresh view is valued. It is required to include not only technological but also economic, environmental, social, ethical and/or political analysis within the proposal.
AWARDS
The 3 Finalists Teams
The Awards Ceremony of the 5th edition of the Challenge, hosted by the Belgian Royal Military Academy (RMA), and themed “Towards a Safer Tomorrow: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Landmine Clearance and Security Enhancement”, took place at RMA Brussels, on May 9, 2025.
During the event, the finalists presented their innovative proposals, addressing key challenges in the defence sector, and we announced the winners of this edition.
Andrea Arieti and Daniele Nannelli, from DTU – Technical University of Denmark and Università di Pisa, Italy, with the proposal: “MIND Mine Identification and Neutralization Database”.
Jens Magnus Oldenburg and Christoffer Hartmann Skovsgård, from Syddansk Universitet – University of Southern Denmark, Denmark, with the proposal: “Scenario specific demining”.
Second position:
Karen Safa and Mohammad Hajj, from Université Toulouse Capitole, France, with the proposal: “Biotechnological Innovations for Landmine neutralization: Leveraging Termites and Shewanella”.
Matylda Iwanicka and Radosław Ciećko, from Politechnika Rzeszowska im. Ignacego Łukasiewicza, Poland, with the proposal: “The concept of ultrasonic mine detection”.
PHOTOS OF THE AWARDS CEREMONY
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TOPIC: “Leading through Complexity: Effective Management in Defence Environment”
ORGANIZER: University of Pisa
Camille Haaby, from Bordeaux Institute of Technology, & Camille Stephan, from Sciences Po Strasbourg.
Their proposal, “AI-gility, Command and Control Agility through AI-Assisted Decision Making” explores how AI-gility stands as a pivotal solution to the evolving challenges faced by military decision makers, where adaptability, efficiency, and ethical considerations converge to define the future of command and control in the military.
Borre Van de walle & Lucie Vandemaele, from UCLouvain – Louvain School of Management, KU Leuven.
Their proposal “Commanding HQ Integrator (CHI)” aims to provide a data-driven solution to assist the armed forces in resource management and mission planning. It enables leaders and managers to interact with their assets and to gain useful insights into all levels of operations.
Filip Kubik & Marcin Krysiak, from Rzeszow University of Technology.
Their proposal “The utilization of artificial intelligence in the process of intercepting rocket projectiles” considers the creation of a self-contained decision-making system based on previously analyzed data by computer can significantly contribute to more efficient operations in threatening situations..
Gian Marco Comparini & Pietro del Debbio, from University of Pisa.
Their proposal “PACE: A data-driven framework for decision making” aims to prioritize interventions to enable a more efficient allocation of resources and ensure the success of the intervention.
April 11, 2023
TOPIC: Security, threats identification and defence strategies.
ORGANIZER: Rzeszow University of Technology
Antoine Lebret & Sarah Joron, from Sciences Po Lille, Master Strategy, Economic intelligence, and Risk Management (SIGR)
Their proposal, “SEA-BER. Strengthening European autonomy, Building European resilience”, aims to improve the European response by proposing the development of SEA-BER software to map cables and the damage that can occur. This tool should help to reduce accidents, the main source of cable damage, but also to identify and prevent the threats surrounding the physical materialization of cyber.
Stefan Ursu & Jan Beuchel, from RWTH Aachen University.
Their proposal, “The European Reconnaissance Space-based Infrastructure: ERSI-1”, is a concept project for a European early threat detection project which proposes the usage of innovative nanosatellite technology. Framed within the context of previous projects and the necessity of the improvement of defense satellite technology, they argue that possession of a modern fleet of resilient satellites will allow the EU to efficiently address threats and generally improve its security capabilities.
Antonio Ferrándiz & Jesús Eguino , from Centro Universitario de la Guardia Civil – Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Their proposal, “The use of statistical methods and big data to fight organized crime”, aims to introduce a software which classifies the information in terms of danger and which is able to be configurable for different organizations. It should be capable of analysing general and specific searches, that way the users have infinite
posibilities in terms of being provided with information for all the different cases.
Abigail Machaj & Alicja Siekanowicz, from Rzeszów University of Technology.
Their proposal, “Securing messages using heat”, wants to introduce an idea of the concept for encrypting messages using heat. Such idea can have a significant impact on the future safety of the military as well as civil facilities. The purpose is to keep the message flow in check, protecting society from injustice they don’t deserve.
March 28, 2023
December 12, 2022
October 3, 2022
June 15, 2022
Madrid, June 15, 2022
Madrid, June 15, 2022
TOPIC: Remote everything? To what extent can unmanned assets interact with humans in the field for defence operations?
ORGANIZER: Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)
Andreas Wouters & Nathan Prakopetz, from the Royal Military Academy (Brussels).
Their proposal, “Autonomy in Air Defence Systems”, analyses the problematic characteristics of hypersonic missiles and how these missiles manage to evade air defence systems.
Susanna Hein & Emilien Maquaire, from Sciences Po Lille (France).
Their proposal, “Human-Robot teaming Research Initiative for a Combat Aerial Network (HURRICANE)”, outlines the opportunities and challenges that robotics and artificial intelligence technologies offer for future air combat by indicating how we can gain an advantage through human machine teams.
Anaëlle Salamon from Sciences Po Lille (France) & Sinan Bekka from University of Edinburgh (UK).
Their proposal is a three-step development program of European Defensive Autonomous Submarine Systems (EURO DASS) which will follow strict principles and hopefully will set a precedent for the making of unmanned systems in defence operations.
Carlos Daniel Farias, from the University of Cadiz (Spain), & Carlos Thurn, from Nordakademie (Germany).
Their proposal “Can I trust you? An AI for secure, authenticated communication” aims to create a method of secure communication between two or more individual parties in order to allow interaction of human and machine for the application in the defence field. In order to achieve this, a combination of encryption and identity authentication will be implemented.
Engagement of talents through the European Defence Challenge, Liga Baltina & Mateo Burgos
Anne Fort, Head of Unit, Defence Industry and Market Policy at European Commission
The guidelines of the Challenge, Mateo Burgos from the UPM organizer of the II edition
Some tips with the I edition winners Matej Pastir & Radka Fléglová, and Sami Makki, Science Po Lille
Maurizio Ferrante, Head of Training and Knowledge Management at Leonardo.
Vice Admiral Manuel A. Martínez, Director of Engineering & Naval Constructions, Spanish Navy
Andrzej Rybka, Managing Director of the Aviation Valley Association
TOPIC: Which technologies and technology bricks are particularly relevant for Europe’s sovereignty in defence and security?
ORGANIZER: University of Bordeaux
Originally launched under the ASSETs+ project (2020-2023), the European Defence Challenge has continued under the coordination of Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and will carry on in its forthcoming editions within the framework of the Skills4ADC+ project – Skills for Aerospace and Defence Community.
