What happens when a student trained in service design and organization development steps into a defense tech hackathon — solo, with no technical background, and no certainty they belong there?

Michael Fua, currently studying in the SDSI programme, did exactly that at the European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH) Hackathon in Tallinn, Estonia. Driven by a question — whether service design can contribute meaningfully in the defense sector — they joined a team of strangers, worked through 40+ hours of research, prototyping, and iteration, and placed in the top 3. More than the result, the experience raised deeper questions about ethics, the weight of real-stakes design, and where human-centered thinking fits in spaces where lives are on the line.

Read the full reflection on LinkedIn to follow the journey — from an accidental conversation in Stockholm, to the team, the mentors, and what it means to show up in a room where the stakes couldn't be higher.