Disruptive By Design: Introducing the Defense Hackathon Act

There have been stirrings in the world of innovation in the software development community. A new law was created one year ago, affording new opportunities for rapid, competitive software prototyping. 

The Defense Hackathon Act of 2024 was signed into law on December 23, 2024, after being rolled into the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. 

For those who are unfamiliar, hackathons are short-term events designed to spur creative problem-solving by having small teams of developers compete by rapidly implementing prototype solutions for a given problem or scenario. This act states that at least four hackathons are to be carried out each year by combatant commanders and the secretaries of military branches, rotating between departments each year. 

Much greater than just more innovation theatre, these events present a unique opportunity for those in command to tap into a wealth of hidden talent among the force. They can aim a group of highly motivated developers at any problem they choose and end up with their selection of solutions to pick the best suited to their needs. 

We know from 11 different competitions through the BRAVO hackathon series created by current Navy Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Stuart Wagner that this is a viable way of approaching software acquisition that often results in lower expenditures compared to traditional methods of software prototyping. Many of the prototypes from those events go on to secure funding and turn into real capabilities through programs like AFWERX. We also have more recent examples from the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Hackathon, hosted at George Mason University in August 2025. This event had 51 teams comprised of 458 registered coders attacking 37 different use cases for real operational needs with real datasets. By building on the success of BRAVO, the NDIA hackathon has shown us that these events can work at larger scales and still bring a wealth of value. 

Competitions like this can also serve another purpose in training those developers early in their careers. 

The Army Software Factory first held a hackathon in December 2024 as a capstone to their software development course, using it as a crucible to solidify the concepts that the students had been taught into skills that will continue to be used throughout careers. The combination of hands-on applied training with the excitement of competition between peers creates a unique environment at hackathons, which heightens student engagement and motivation, as well as facilitates collaboration and skill transferability as shown by research published in Cogent Education vol. 11 in 2024. Transferability is perhaps the key takeaway, making sure that soldiers can apply what they’ve learned to the problems faced by their home units in the same way they tackle problem sets during the competition. 

The hosts of these events should consider all possibilities and applications for their hackathons, ensuring they address both the short-term effects of rapidly prototyping solutions to a problem their troops are facing, as well as the long-term legacy that others can learn from. One of the provisions in the Defense Hackathon Act is that a report will be made available not less than 60 days after its completion. This encourages hosts to learn and improve each year from the successes and trials of their predecessors. 

Ultimately, it is this kind of shingled, progressive approach to innovation that will allow us to refine hackathons into the best they can be: an open, fair and competitive opportunity for innovators to prototype solutions for real-world problems affecting them today. It is exciting to consider this new breed of competitive innovation opportunities and what may come from them.