Tampere is emerging as a new focal point for drone innovation in Northern Europe. This momentum takes a concrete step forward with an upcoming Drone Hackathon at Nokia Arena, one of Europe’s most advanced multi-purpose venues. More than just a one-off event, the hackathon supports a broader initiative to develop indoor drone testing services that utilize the Arena’s existing state-of-the-art technology capabilities as a service platform.
Rather than modifying the venue itself, the project focuses on building drone testing and experimentation services that operate within the Arena environment, piggybacking on its advanced infrastructure. The hackathon brings together developers, companies, FPV pilots, and institutional stakeholders to explore how such services could support future drone development, testing, and competition use cases.
Why an Indoor Drone Hackathon?
Drone innovation is increasingly constrained by factors that have little to do with technology itself. Weather, airspace regulations, safety restrictions, and inconsistent test conditions slow development and complicate experimentation—particularly for autonomous systems, FPV operations, and advanced mission scenarios.
By operating indoors, these constraints can be significantly reduced.
Nokia Arena already offers a controlled, weather-independent environment with substantial vertical and horizontal space, modern lighting systems, advanced connectivity, and the potential for precise indoor positioning and sensor integration. The hackathon leverages these existing capabilities, allowing participants to focus on drone technology, services, and operations rather than infrastructure limitations.
The event is designed to explore how such an environment can be used efficiently and safely for drone-related testing and experimentation.
Developing Services on Top of an Existing Platform
While the hackathon is the immediate focal point, the long-term ambition goes further. The event acts as a practical pilotfor a project that aims to assess the feasibility of commercial indoor drone testing services built on top of the Arena’s technology offering.
The core idea is to treat Nokia Arena as a ready-made technology and facility platform, and to develop modular drone testing services that can utilize it. These services could support, for example:
- Performance and endurance testing
- Autonomy and navigation development
- Sensor calibration and data collection
- Communications and connectivity validation
- Training, rehearsal, and demonstration activities
- FPV flight testing and future competition formats
By observing how different user groups interact with the Arena during the hackathon, the project team gathers insights into service design, safety processes, operational needs, and customer expectations — all essential for building scalable and repeatable drone testing services.
Who Is This For?
The hackathon and the service development initiative are intentionally cross-sectoral.
Drone Companies and Developers
For companies building drone platforms, payloads, autonomy software, or data-driven services, the Arena provides a rare opportunity to test in a large-scale indoor environment using an existing professional facility. The focus is on how testing services can be structured to support reliable development and validation workflows.
FPV Pilots and Enthusiasts
For the FPV community, the Arena offers a glimpse into what arena-based indoor FPV flying and racing services could look like in the future. The hackathon allows pilots to experiment with indoor flying concepts and provide feedback that could influence future service offerings.
Military and Security Stakeholders
Indoor drone operations are increasingly relevant for defense and security contexts. Using the Arena as a controlled environment allows stakeholders to explore operational concepts and requirements while keeping the focus on service use cases, not facility construction.
Pre-Event Webinar: Setting the Context
To provide background and align expectations, a pre-event webinar was organized ahead of the hackathon. The session introduces the hackathon goals, outlines the Arena’s relevant capabilities, and explains the service-focused approach behind the indoor drone testing concept.
The recording is available online:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsrymalShjI
Looking Ahead: From Testing Services to Competitions
Beyond testing and development, the project also explores the long-term feasibility of offering FPV racing and competition services in an arena environment. By using an existing venue with professional infrastructure, such services could enable new formats that are independent of weather and seasonality.
The hackathon represents a first step in understanding how these services could be designed, operated, and scaled — without altering the Arena itself.
An Invitation to the Drone Ecosystem
The drone hackathon at Nokia Arena is an invitation to collaborate. It brings together technology developers, pilots, and stakeholders to help shape indoor drone testing and competition services that leverage existing world-class facilities.
Link HERE to find out more about the Hackathon
Innovation does not always require new buildings.
Sometimes, it starts by using what already exists — in new ways.
