An online event launched the international engineering challenge to develop practical solutions for humanitarian demining, with a focus on excavation — one of the most complex, risky, and resource-intensive stages of the process. Teams can submit abstracts by April 21 and join the next stage of the challenge. Up to five selected teams with the best abstracts will each receive a grant of $100,000 and the opportunity to implement their product in practice. At the end of the Challenge, the top team, whose technology and solution passes final testing, will receive an additional $100,000 prize for a total of $200,000.

The kick-off event took place on April 8, online. More than 150 engineers, representatives of research groups, startups, and companies working in related fields and interested in creating applied solutions for demining joined the event. The organizers presented participants with the technical challenge, selection criteria, stages of the challenge, and opportunities for the teams. 

Excavation is the final stage following signal detection, involving direct contact between the deminer and a potentially explosive object. Today, this process is performed primarily by hand and accounts for 60–80% of a deminer’s time, making it one of the most risky and resource-intensive tasks.

The challenge is being implemented by the American nonprofit organization Minesight in partnership with the national platform Demine Ukraine, with support from the Serhiy Prytula Humanitarian Fund and the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine.

Speaking to the participants, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravaynyi emphasized the impact of such initiatives. “Ukraine has become an environment where solutions can not only be created but also immediately tested in real-world conditions. We are interested in changing the rules of the game to accelerate the demining of our lands, making it more technologically advanced and safer. For us, the end result is key—solutions that will help save the lives of deminers and enable them to work more effectively in the field,” he said.

Marina Petrychenko, Director of the Serhiy Prytula Humanitarian Foundation, emphasized the importance of applying the results developed during the challenge. “For our Foundation, practical results are always key. That is why this challenge focuses on solutions that must go from concept to real-world application in Ukrainian fields and territories that need to be cleared and brought back to life,” she added.

Dmitro Martynovych, Chief Technology Officer of Minesight, explained what the key focus of the challenge will be. “We are looking for solutions that will work in real field conditions, reduce reliance on manual labor, and can be scaled up and integrated into the demining process,” he summarized.

As part of the challenge, participants will work on creating a compact mechanized excavation system that will reduce the need for manual labor, improve the safety of deminers, and accelerate the process of clearing territories.

The Minesight Innovation Challenge consists of several stages. In the first stage, teams submit an abstract, explaining the solution’s operating principle, its advantages, and its impact on the speed, safety, and efficiency of demining. The team’s ability to implement the proposed approach is evaluated separately.

Next, after reviewing the applications, the most promising solutions will be selected, and their authors will be invited to submit expanded proposals. Based on the results of this stage, five teams will be selected, each of which will receive up to $100,000 in funding to develop prototypes. The selected teams will work for about six months, have access to the testing site and expert consultations, and prepare their solutions for final testing. Based on the results, the winning team will be determined. It will receive an additional prize of $100,000.

Overall, all challenge participants will have access to funding for prototype development, mentoring support from industry practitioners, opportunities for field testing, and further implementation of their solutions.

Teams can submit descriptions of their ideas by April 21 and join the next stages of the challenge.

Answers to frequently asked questions, participation details, and the submission form are available on the website: https://www.minesightchallenge.com/. A full video of the kick-off event in Ukrainian and English will also be available there.