- Hacking for Defense (H4D) is now offered at 70 universities, including 20+ in the UK and new programs in Poland and Germany.
- This year at Stanford, 9 teams of 42 students conducted 1,132 interviews with stakeholders and built AI-driven minimal viable products.
- Final presentations were structured as 'Lessons Learned,' focusing on the teams' 10-week journey and discoveries rather than product demos.
- Teams used the Mission Model Canvas, Customer Development, and AI tools to address complex national security problems.
- Keynote speaker was retired LTG Jack Shanahan, former Director of the DoD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
- Guest speakers included Owen West (DIU), Mike Brown (Shield Capital), and others.
- The class originated from the Lean LaunchPad methodology and NSF I-Corps, evolving into a national security incubator.
- AI tools like Claude, Granola, ChatGPT, and Replit were widely used, but the rapid prototyping sometimes led to insufficient validation.
- The program relies on a large volunteer teaching team and mentors from national security and business backgrounds.