Swedish Origami Technique Turns Drone Airports into Flat Packs – Meet STILPOD: Innovative IKEA inspired solution for Aviation
The aircraft of the future are here. The places to land them are not. Today, Swedish design technology company STILFOLD launches STILPOD: the world's first software-defined vertiport. Folded from recycled aluminum, shipped flat in a single standard container, and operational in hours rather than months, STILPOD cuts the embodied carbon of conventional concrete vertiports by 81 percent and leaves zero permanent footprint when uninstalled. After three years of validated development with RISE and Advanced Air Mobility under Sweden's Vinnova iPOD program, STILFOLD is now opening the technology for global commercial deployment.
The eVTOL market is projected to surpass $23B by 2030, with longer-horizon estimates for urban air mobility crossing $1 trillion – but ground infrastructure has been a massive bottleneck. Now, design technology company STILFOLD is launching the world's first software-defined vertiport. Built from recycled aluminum, it cuts the carbon footprint by 81 percent and is delivered as a flat pack in a standard container.
Until now, landing platforms for drone traffic have been expensive and time-consuming construction projects characterized by cast-in-place concrete, heavy excavated masses, and millions in costs. The recently completed Swedish innovation project STILPOD (Vinnlva project iPOD - Industrial Origami for Drone Ports) is a game-changer.
By utilizing STILFOLD's patented technology for folding sheet metal, the consortium – which also includes RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) and Advanced Air Mobility – has validated a unique, modular landing platform.
Instead of months of groundworks, the new vertiport is folded and assembled in just a few hours at a fraction of the cost. In connection with the project's completion, STILFOLD is now entering into a commercial launch to roll out the technology globally.
"Infrastructure has been the absolute slowest link in emerging air mobility. We have been building the airports of the future with ancient technology. By combining our software-driven manufacturing technology with a vertiport system, we simplify the construction process. We can now ship complete vertiports in flat packs all over the world," says Jonas Nyvang, CEO of STILFOLD.
"This is not just a greener solution; it’s an entirely new level of operational flexibility. Being able to set up a fully functional, smart landing site for heavy drones in a few hours – and just as easily unbolt it and move it without leaving a trace in the environment – is exactly what the market has been waiting for," says Ramin Mosfegh, RISE
The timing of this technology rollout is no coincidence. The launch occurs at the intersection of three global trends:
1. Regulations are ready: Aviation safety authorities EASA and the FAA are in the final stages of certifying eVTOL traffic. The aircraft are here now – but they lack places to land.
2. Military and emergency preparedness (Dual-Use): Sweden's NATO membership and the heightened security situation in Europe have created an urgent need for rapidly deployed aviation infrastructure with a low footprint. The STILPOD platform is developed to be directly applicable in military procurement.
3. Climate requirements in procurement: With an 81 percent lower embodied carbon footprint than concrete and a fully reversible construction (zero permanent ground impact), the solution perfectly hits the mark for public and private ESG requirements.
The same platform addresses adjacent demand profiles: humanitarian logistics, disaster response, expeditionary military aviation, and temporary installations where permanent construction is not viable. The technology is dual-use by design.
STILPOD is the commercial result of iPOD (Industrial Origami for Drone Ports), a three-year experimental development program funded by Vinnova, Sweden's national innovation agency. The consortium brought together STILFOLD's patented curved-folding manufacturing platform, the engineering and certification expertise of RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), and the operational and regulatory insight of Advanced Air Mobility. The program delivered structural validation, operational field testing, and a deployment-ready system designed against the certification pathways now being finalized by EASA and the FAA.
For further information, please contact:
Jonas Nyvang, CEO, STILFOLD
Email: jonas@stilfold.com
Phone: +46 70-766 30 22
About STILFOLD
STILFOLD is a Swedish design technology company pioneering software-defined manufacturing. Its proprietary platform combines origami, kirigami, and curved-folding methodologies to transform flat sheet material into advanced, load-bearing surface structures — without molds, casting, or heavy fixed tooling. The result is a new manufacturing logic: lighter and lower-carbon by design, digitally reconfigurable from a single production line, and shippable as a flat-packed kit anywhere on earth. STILFOLD's technology is protected by an international patent portfolio and has been deployed across mobility, infrastructure, and advanced hardware applications.
