Future of Security 2026 · Day 1 evening

The Future of Security Hackathon

A working session where defence innovators, fintechs, financial institutions and government come together to design the next generation of economic security solutions. Last year it created Sovereign Resilience Finance. This year, we build three.

Monday 29 June 2026 17:30 to 20:00 King's College London, Strand Campus Curated room of 20 to 28
Register your interest
What it is

From a room to a real institution

The Future of Security Hackathon is the event's signature convening: a focused, practitioner-led session that turns the day's wargaming into concrete, fundable concepts. It is run jointly by Crowd Capital and SRF, in partnership with the Centre for Economic Security.

Last year's hackathon set out to solve the working-capital gap for defence and security SMEs. The result was Sovereign Resilience Finance, a private credit fund now with a pipeline of around £68m. It also seeded the data ideas that became Security and Resilience Technologies Ltd. This year we are going further, and building three.

The challenge

Three prizes, developed over a year

Participants will work in teams alongside providers of finance and government to define three concepts that answer core defence and economic security challenges. Each becomes a prize, developed through the year with Crowd Capital and SRF/CES, and awarded at Future of Security 2027.

PRIZE 01
Defence Innovation
Scaling dual-use technology and industrial transition for a preparedness economy.
PRIZE 02
Data & Security
Identifying economic threats and securing the data backbone of defence and security supply chains.
PRIZE 03
Defence Finance AI
Applying AI to close the gap between capital and the SMEs that need it, at the right time and place.
The pathway

What happens after the room

  • Concepts are refined with Crowd Capital and SRF/CES over the following 12 months.
  • Participants get access to business development expertise and financial pathways throughout the year.
  • The three prizes are awarded at Future of Security 2027.
  • The strongest ideas follow the SRF route: from a room, to a concept, to a standing institution.
In the room

The evening, 17:30 to 20:00

Crowd Capital's Francis Beland and Simon will present and facilitate the session.

Format detail to follow. The full run of the evening, the team structure and the brief for each prize track are being finalised with Crowd Capital. This section will be completed ahead of registration opening.
Who should be in the room

By invitation, curated for fit

This is a small, deliberately mixed room. We are recruiting the right people rather than the most people, across:

  • Defence companies and defence innovators
  • Fintechs and providers of finance
  • Financial institutions and investors
  • Government, policy and the innovation framework
Run by

The facilitator team

Crowd Capital
Francis Beland and Simon present and facilitate. Armen Arujyan supports across both days.
SRF & the Centre for Economic Security
Sovereign Resilience Finance and CES convene the room and steward the concepts through to FoS 2027.

Be in the room where it starts

Places are limited and curated. Register your interest and the Crowd Capital and CES team will confirm your place.

Register your interest