Mobility Hackathon 2026: Digital Blackout as a Key Theme

Steve Gadsdon explaining real-life FRs scenarios

Steve Gadsdon explaining real-life FRs scenarios

Tech Tower, Pilsen during the Mobility Hackathon

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Marios Stavrou presenting the Sparrow project

Marios Stavrou presenting the Sparrow project

Marios Stavrou presenting the Sparrow project

Sparrow team, Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Josef Navrátil, Drony SITMP

Jiří Bouchal and Karel Jedlička, members of the jury

Technical jury interacting with students

Evaluation criteria displayed

Sparrow team interacting with students

Sparrow team interacting with students

Pavlos Kosmidis, technical expert from Sparrow

Workspace of one of the teams

Karel Jedlička interacting with students

Karel Jedlička interacting with students

Technical jury interacting with students

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Mobility hackathon, Pilsen

Final judging panel

3rd place – Offline Public Transport Dispatch and Driver Support Application

2nd place – Overwatch: Drone Capturing and Identification

The second winning team with the jury

1st place – Disaster Alert and Response Information System

The winning team with the jury

On 13–14 February 2026, the TechTower Pilsen hosted Mobility Hackathon 2026, a two-day innovation event focused on developing solutions for crisis scenarios involving digital disruption and blackout conditions.

DRI contributed to the preparation and organisation of the hackathon and introduced the theme of the digital blackout, building on the SPARROW project. The main objective was to support societal preparedness for situations involving large-scale disruption of digital infrastructure.

The thematic areas were developed in cooperation with expert mentors and academic partners. The main focus areas included:

• digital system failures and blackout scenarios,

• resilience of urban services without connectivity,

• offline communication for citizens and emergency responders,

• management of transport and critical infrastructure during digital system outages,

• cybersecurity and crisis management.

A total of 72 participants, mainly university students, took part in the hackathon, forming 15 teams of 3–6 members. One international team participated remotely. Teams worked intensively for 24 hours with the support of mentors and experts, consulting on technological solutions, crisis scenarios, and practical implementation possibilities for their proposed tools.

Following the technical evaluation, six finalist teams were selected. The expert jury assessed projects based on technological implementation, level of innovation, user value, and societal impact.

🥇 1st place – Disaster Alert and Response Information SystemA multi-channel information system for incident commanders, citizens, and critical infrastructure operators, integrating LoRaWAN networks and FM radio communication.

🥈 2nd place – Overwatch: Drone Capturing and IdentificationA tool for identifying drones based on their digital signature (sound and video), using gamification and building a database of captured devices.

🥉 3rd place – Offline Public Transport Dispatch and Driver Support ApplicationA communication and coordination tool using LoRaWAN technology to support public transport operations under blackout conditions.

Other teams worked on solutions such as offline “digital passports” of critical infrastructure, autonomous evacuation support using drones, and tools simulating the impact of cyber-attacks on municipal services.

Mobility Hackathon 2026 highlighted the growing importance of digital resilience and demonstrated that combining technological innovation with crisis management can generate concrete and practically applicable solutions for emergency situations.