Date: 21–23 January 2026 
Venue: Nokia Arena, Tampere, Finland
Registration: bit.ly/Drone-Arena (register by 6 January)

The Drone Hackathon 2026 offers a one-of-a-kind playground for drone innovation inside Nokia Arena, home to the world’s largest indoor drone testing facility.

This event provides a unique environment for innovators to design and test next-generation drones, counter-drone solutions and potential new concepts & services including business strategies to position Nokia Arena as the leading global drone testing and innovation arena.

Whether you’re a developer, student, researcher, startup, or company, this is where bold ideas take off.

Four challenges – four perspectives on drone innovation

1. The Future of Nokia Arena: Reimagine Nokia Arena as a global epicenter for drone testing and innovation. Create new services, business models, and operational concepts to strengthen its global role.
2. The Invisible Intruder: Develop stealth drone solutions to test advanced counter-drone systems like the ONYKS™ Shield. Explore safe, creative tactics in signal deception, sensor spoofing, and swarm coordination. 
3. 5G-Driven Drone Innovation: Harness 5G’s ultra-low latency and precision to push drone capabilities further. Build solutions for GPS-free indoor navigation, real-time control, and AR/VR piloting.
4. Low Signature Drone Design: Fly a drone from one end of the arena to the other and land while minimising acoustic signature.     

Why Join 

• Compete for €15,000 in prizes
• Opportunity to access Defence accelerator (17Tech)
• Access exclusive 5G & drone testing facilities
• Collaborate with top partners and industry leaders
• Contribute to Finland’s national drone innovation movement

Join the pre hackathon webinar 

If you want to find out more about the hackathon challenges, partners and practicalities, join the pre-hackathon webinar on 11 December.

Read more about the Drone Innovation Hackathon on the Ultrahack website.

The Drone Innovation Hackathon is organized by Ultrahack and supported by Elisa, Business Tampere, Crown Defence, Nokia, Unikie, Digital Defence Ecosystem, Patria, TUNI, TAMK, City of Tampere, 17Tech, Innoavia, Loopshore, Missing-Link, Pirkanmaan Liitto, Tampereen Kauppakamari and Location Innovation Hub.