DECOI | FiBAN

Helsinki city centre. 500 Industry players. During Slush week.

DECOI × Borderland is Europe’s Defence & Dual-use Innovation Summit — a single day in Helsinki where 500 industry leaders come together during Slush week: investors, founders, defence industry and military leaders, and public sector stakeholders from across Europe, meeting at the intersection of defence innovation, civilian security technology, and dual-use applications.

This summit is where relationships form that shape what gets funded, built, and fielded across Europe’s defence and dual-use sector. A day of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and pitches from Europe’s most promising defence and dual-use companies — in front of the investors, corporates, and institutions that decide what happens next.

Whether you’re raising capital, deploying it, setting policy, or simply need to understand where European defence innovation is headed, this is the room to be in.

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What is DECOI × Borderland?

Founded by FiBAN in 2023, DECOI (Defence Ecosystem of Innovators) began as a platform for serious, investor-driven conversations around defence innovation — connecting startups with the angel investors and defence-focused VCs who rarely get access to this space. Borderland, led by the cities of Eastern Finland, has spent years building a world-class test and innovation environment at the EU’s eastern frontier, developing the next generation of digital border security technology for Arctic conditions. In 2026, these two ecosystems come together for the first time.

Call for Startups & Scaleups

The Call Is Open

14 defence and dual-use startups and scaleups will be selected to pitch to Europe’s leading defence-focused investors and corporates at DECOI × Borderland 2026. Selected companies also receive tickets to Slush 2026.

Applications close 2 October 2026.

Apply to Pitch