Defense Accelerator set to move to Troy’s Montgomery campus

Montgomery’s TechLab has officially launched a new partnership with Troy University, bringing the MTL Defense Accelerator to the college’s capitol city campus.

Beginning in Summer 2026, Troy’s Montgomery Campus will serve as the home base for accelerator programming, workshops, founder engagement activities and community innovation events.

“This partnership represents much more than a new location. It creates a visible and accessible center for innovation in downtown Montgomery where founders, students, faculty, industry, and government can come together to solve real-world challenges. By establishing a home at Troy University Montgomery, we’re building stronger pathways between talent, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity while continuing to grow Montgomery’s role as a hub for defense and technology innovation.”

Charisse Stokes, Partner Liaison for Montgomery TechLab

Montgomery TechLab Defense Accelerator

The MTL Defense Accelerator is designed to help startups break into the defense sector with dual-use technologies. The 11-week accelerator program is for early-stage technology companies.

The accelerator is supported by:

• Innovate Alabama
• Opportunity Alabama
• City of Montgomery
• Alabama Power
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama

The partnership with Troy University helps create a dedicated hub where entrepreneurs, students, faculty, industry leaders and stakeholders can collaborate.

“By bringing the Defense Accelerator to our downtown campus, we are creating meaningful opportunities for students and faculty to engage with emerging technologies, startup founders, and industry partners while contributing to the economic growth and innovation capacity of our region.”

Dr. Dionne Rosser-Mims, Vice Chancellor of the Troy University Montgomery Campus

New companies joining Accelerator

The new partnership comes at the same time as MTL introduced the companies selected for its Summer 2026 Defense Accelerator cohort.

The Summer 2026 cohort includes five companies developing innovative solutions with applications across defense, government and commercial markets:

• ARBK Series: Developing mobile technologies that support critical mineral recovery, supply chain resilience, and secure equipment disposition.
• Culper Systems: Building secure communications and privacy-focused technologies designed for highly regulated and mission-critical environments.
• DDC-I: Delivering safety-critical software solutions that support aerospace, defense, and mission-critical systems worldwide.
• Moro Motion: An emerging technology company building adaptive humanoid robots that operate in the world’s most dangerous environments—so humans don’t have to.
• Omega Security: Advancing technology-enabled security and operational preparedness solutions for government and commercial organizations.

Founders will receive mentorship, strategic guidance, defense market insights, customer discovery support and exposure to investors, defense stakeholders and ecosystem leaders.

The Summer 2026 cohort will culminate with Demo Day in conjunction with the Department of the Air Force Information Technology and Cyberpower Conference (DAFITC), where companies will showcase their technologies and progress to defense leaders, investors, industry partners, and potential customers.

“The momentum we’re seeing in Montgomery is a reflection of what can happen when higher education, industry, government, and entrepreneurs intentionally work together. The Defense Accelerator is creating a pathway for founders to access customers, capital, talent, and strategic partnerships while helping build a stronger defense innovation ecosystem for Montgomery and the entire state of Alabama.”

Brien House, Executive Director of Alabama Accelerators at Treble One