Swedish design technology company STILFOLD has launched STILPOD, which it said is 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% 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 $23 billion by 2030, with longer-horizon estimates for urban air mobility crossing $1 trillion – but ground infrastructure has been a massive bottleneck.
“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,” said 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,” said Ramin Mosfegh, RISE.
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.
This press release was prepared and distributed by STILFOLD.
