The Pulse Hackathon 2026 is a high‑intensity, deep‑tech innovation challenge focused on underwater optical communications, jointly organised by monodon by Navantia and the QOPHI photonics laboratory of the Universidade de Vigo.
The event will take place in Vigo on July 8th – 10th 2026. Teams of both institutions conceived the hackathon content to revolve around real industrial and research challenges linked to the use of photonics for secure, high‑capacity data transmission in the submarine environment.
Alvaro Aguirre, from Qophi Lab Universidade de Vigo, strength the importance for participants to work in selected, multidisciplinary teams during 28 continuous hours, addressing problems that reflect the extreme physical, environmental, and operational constraints of underwater scenarios. The expected outputs go beyond conceptual ideas: “teams are encouraged to propose technically grounded solutions, models, architectures, algorithms, or system designs that could realistically be transferred to naval, subsea, or blue‑tech applications”.
A central expectation is that solutions leverage “photonics expertise—including optical links, modulation strategies, signal robustness, and security advantages—while demonstrating awareness of industry requirements”, explains Iago Gonzalez Innovation Lead from Monodon by Navantia. The hackathon explicitly seeks to bridge academic knowledge and industrial applicability, fostering innovation with a strong technology‑readiness mindset rather than purely exploratory research.
Leading voices of both institutions Francisco Diaz Otero –Qophi Lab Director- & Patricia Sierra –Monodon by Navantia Head of R&D- pointed out during the Hackathon preparation how “Mentoring plays a key role in shaping content: teams are expected to interact closely with experts from industry and research, refine assumptions, and justify design choices. This will help next generation of photonic leaders building solutions through competing collaboration”.
Ultimately, the hackathon content expects to contribute to talent development in photonics and blue‑tech, while generating innovative ideas with potential impact on future naval, subsea communication, and dual‑use technologies, reinforcing Vigo’s role as a hub for advanced maritime innovation
