The Defense Department‘s public-private partnership MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator has announced winners of the inaugural hackathon event that brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, first responders and military personnel to develop disaster relief technology concepts.
MD5 said Wednesday winning teams include Squad Sanctuary, Squad EL Tags and Squad Visual Ops that will each receive up to $15,000 in funds and also partner with MD5, the U.S. Army‘s Strategic Studies Group and the New York Fire Department to test concepts.
DoD partnered with several U.S. research universities to establish MD5 in efforts to foster civil-military technology collaboration to support national security programs, ExecutiveGov reported Oct. 17.
Squad Sanctuary demonstrated a smartphone-based tool that works to connect civilians with first responders during disasters while Squad EL Tags created a system designed to provide floor-level tracking of firefighters in high-rise buildings and Squad Visual Ops developed a smartphone-based, team-planning system for disaster relief personnel.
The hackathon attracted 100 participants in 20 teams that received mentorship from FDNY, the Army and the New York City entrepreneur community, MD5 said.
Winners will work with MD5 to develop and mature their prototypes through development funds, technical resources, education and infrastructure.
MD5 noted venture capitalists and investors can help mature or scale the teams’ concepts.
The hackathon event at Brooklyn Navy Yard marked the official launch of MD5.
