Fincantieri has wrapped up its inaugural Maritime Security Hackathon, awarding top honors to startup Lares Technologies for a solution designed to coordinate manned and unmanned maritime assets across multiple operational domains, underscoring the growing role of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence in maritime defense.

Held in collaboration with Talent Garden and Silicon Mountain, the two-day event brought together more than 70 participants, including startups, software developers, defense experts, entrepreneurs and officers from the Italian Navy, to develop technologies aimed at protecting critical maritime infrastructure and enhancing operational security.

The winning project from Lares Technologies focused on the integrated management of autonomous underwater, surface and aerial vehicles while enabling coordination between crewed and uncrewed platforms. As navies and maritime security organizations increasingly adopt distributed autonomous systems, the ability to seamlessly orchestrate multiple assets across domains is becoming a key operational capability.

A special recognition was also awarded to EchoLock, a project that developed an acoustic detection solution for challenging underwater environments where changing operating conditions can complicate sonar performance and target identification.

During the competition, five teams produced minimum viable products designed around realistic maritime defense scenarios. The prototypes were demonstrated using live hardware integrations, including virtual reality interfaces, sensors and radar systems, providing judges with an opportunity to evaluate their practical applications.

The hackathon reflects Fincantieri’s broader strategy of fostering innovation through collaboration among industry, government and the startup ecosystem, particularly in areas where artificial intelligence, autonomous technologies and human-machine interfaces are converging.

The selected projects will now enter an acceleration and technology validation program at the AgorAI hub in Trieste, supported by Fincantieri and the initiative’s partners. The program is intended to help mature promising technologies into operational capabilities while opening the door to potential long-term industrial collaborations.