On 15 December, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the winners of the NATO Innovation Challenge “Medical Assistance in Accessible and Vulnerable Combat Spaces”. The competition awarded innovations that help provide care to the wounded in zones under total surveillance and at risk from drones.
Victory for portable dialysis device
First place went to a Canadian portable dialysis unit for field use, which effectively replaces the function of the kidney.
It requires only 2–4 liters of water per cycle, compared to 200–500 liters for standard devices, and is compact enough to be carried in a backpack.
American solutions for autonomous medicine
Second place was awarded to MiniFuser, a device for controlled intravenous drug delivery without constant medical supervision, requiring no electricity or special conditions.
Third place went to an automatic system that reads patient data and transmits it securely, eliminating the need for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, thereby enabling safe and reliable monitoring.
Prospects for frontline testing
Winners of the challenge will have the opportunity to refine their solutions and test them in combat conditions. If successful, these technologies could be scaled for broader use by the armed forces.
The competition was organized by the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Center (JATEC) and the NATO Allied Command Transformation.
Earlier, combat medic Volodymyr Ryzhenko, call sign “Druh Sprite”, from the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov, was named “Best European Medic of the Year” in the Military Medicine category.
In winter 2025, Druh Sprite made headlines after he saved a wounded comrade under enemy fire by performing an emergency blood transfusion using donor blood delivered by drone.
