FORTRESS

Defence tech is about making tomorrow safer, and you should get into it.

Fortress shows teams which defence themes are worth building for, because the field told us they need them.

This is not a hackathon. It's a three week residency where you build with the guidance of defence and security operators to validate a real need, build a working prototype, and test it. You keep your equity and your IP.

Before each Fleet we sit down with defence and security field and work out a theme. That means you arrive in Lappeenranta with the area already defined, and you work next to the people who understand it.

You have three weeks to take it from idea to something that works. We cover the materials and software you need during the residency. You have access to mentors and the defence ecosystem from day one.

After three weeks you show what you built to the wider defence sector, including operators, industry and investors. It's a more practical demo day, because they see the prototype working in the conditions.

Students, teams and solo founders who want to break into defence tech and dual use. We look for technical depth and people who build because the problem matters. Fortress is open to applicants from NATO countries and Ukraine.