A 12-month private-sector immersion bridging operators and cutting-edge dual-use technology.
The ellimaC Defense Fellowship Program is an independent, 12-month private-sector industry immersion experience.
Designed to be highly accessible to any Department of War (DoW) member — including Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, and Federal employees — alongside SkillBridge interns, the program gives high-performing intrapreneurs the opportunity to actively bridge the gap between commercial technology and the defense ecosystem.
ellimaC Partners is a private entity. This fellowship is not officially sponsored, endorsed, or funded by the Department of War.
For Active Duty and Federal employees, participation is strictly an off-duty professional development opportunity. All work must occur outside official duty hours.
Active Duty and Federal participants must obtain official off-duty employment approval through their chain of command and local legal/ethics offices prior to starting.
Fellows must adhere strictly to the Joint Ethics Regulation (JER). Participants act in their individual capacity and cannot represent the government or use their position for private gain.
Two distinct phases designed to give operators direct exposure to the fast-paced dual-use technology ecosystem.
Fellows begin with foundational coursework focused on immediate professional growth. This ensures operators build actionable skill sets in defense technology integration, government proposal and capture management, and small business operations.
Fellows are embedded across our portfolio of eight cutting-edge dual-use AI and aerospace companies. This allows them to apply their unique operational perspectives to ongoing commercial tech development efforts.
Operating in a purely private capacity, fellows leverage their operational backgrounds across three primary functions.
Fellows gain experience shaping SBIR/STTR capture strategies by helping startups translate commercial capabilities into language that addresses publicly known defense gaps and unfunded priorities.
Fellows conduct end-user UI/UX testing, providing ground-truth feedback to ensure commercial AI and hardware are intuitively designed for potential future use in flight line and Command and Control (C2) environments.
Fellows practice mapping existing commercial technologies to emerging military frameworks such as Agile Combat Employment (ACE), helping startups identify new defense verticals for private-sector innovations.
The ellimaC Defense Fellowship is open to high-performing Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, Federal employees, and SkillBridge participants who want to accelerate commercial technology into the defense ecosystem.
Schedule a ConversationApplications for Cohort 26.4 are now open.