Creative Defense Foundation

Thank you to every member of the CDF team for making #DisruptorsByTheLakes 2026 a success! Behind the event are hundreds of hours of planning, coordination, and collaboration — all driven by a shared commitment to supporting America’s warfighters and strengthening our national security. #CreativeDisruptors

Thank you to every sponsor, speaker, and innovator who made #DisruptorsByTheLakes a success. Over the past two days, government, industry, and capital came together to share ideas and challenge assumptions. The conference may be over, but the mission continues. 💪 Next stop: #DisruptorsInTheDesert in Palm Springs. Stay tuned! – at St Paul, MN

Day 2 of #DisruptorsByTheLakes 🫡 – at St Paul, MN

Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Member @RepEllzey: Entrepreneurs, risk takers, our warfighters, legislators — we all share a common commitment to public service. This commitment includes ensuring our warfighters have the assets to deter conflict or threats. #DisruptorsByTheLakes #CreativeDisruptors

Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman @KenCalvert: We are trying to bring manufacturing back to the United States. The Civil Reserve Manufacturing initiative will be important to achieving that objective. U.S. entrepreneurship will also be integral to building our industrial capacity and sustaining a resilient supply chain. #DisruptorsByTheLakes #CreativeDisruptors

Dr. Jenny McCardle, General Manager, US for @HelsingAI: Designing for manufacturability up front is the only way forward to manufacture for mass. Our design team works hand in glove with production the moment we start developing a new attritable system. This allows us to make design decisions that drive subcomponents and cost down and strip out significant assembly time. It also ensures the production process is simple, allowing us to train people off the street in 1.5 days and invest in Americans to build. #DisruptorsByTheLakes #CreativeDisruptors

Lukas Czinger, CEO of @Divergent__Tech: What do we need to be successful in providing end systems at scale? We need to pair resiliency with scale, using tools that can multitask to make a cruise missile, an auto part, or a fuselage. The factory needs to be agnostic to the end project and able to adapt rapidly. That is how we add value to our partners and the warfighter. #DisruptorsByTheLakes #CreativeDisruptors