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Franck was pleased to co-represent the UK Young Academy at the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Triennial Conference, alongside global science and policy leaders, and to speak at IRC EXPO 2025 (International Research Commercialisation Expo).

Wearing both my Ethicronics and UK Young Academy hats, I shared perspectives on science policy, research commercialisation, and innovation ecosystems, drawing in particular on experience from the UK and Cambridge, Europe’s most innovative city and just behind the Bay Area on several metrics. 

Egypt combines extraordinary heritage with strong ambition: a key regional stability partner, a population of ~25M in Cairo, and major initiatives such as the new administrative capital (New Cairo). While funding levels differ from other ecosystems, the intent are impressive, with clear potential for UK-France-Egypt win-win collaborations.

As Egyptian Prime Minister H.E. Mostafa Madbouly put it during his keynote:
“Egypt: not only the land of the past.”

Many thanks to the UK Young Academy, The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), and IRC EXPO 2025.
First time in Africa for (French) Franck - and from all places, Egypt 🙂

Out of 3,680 submissions, with a highly competitive 4% success rate, I'm excited to share that Ethicronics has been selected for the NATO DIANA 2026 Challenge Programme cohort 🚀

Over the next six months, we will work even harder to advance our electronics hardware assurance technology, leveraging DIANA’s unique network to:

• Engage directly with defence and security end-users

• Refine our technology against real operational needs

• Accelerate the path from innovation to adoption

Being part of the DIANA Programme 2026 cohort is a strong validation of both the problem we are tackling and the approach we are taking at the intersection of hardware, security, and dual-use innovation.

Proud to join an outstanding group of innovators shaping the future of defence and security.

👉 Full list of selected companies: https://lnkd.in/eMHcMDWa

Three places. Three ecosystems. One shared ambition: advancing trusted, resilient technologies at the intersection of hardware, security, and sovereignty.

My visit had nothing to do with the recent AIRBUS hardware/software security incident, now fixed, pure coincidence. External disturbances are not new: during my PhD, I worked on light-induced bit flips, much like solar radiation effects in space. There are standards, countermeasures, and deep expertise, on both the hardware and software sides.                         

Finally, wearing my Ethicronics CEO hat, it was a pleasure to serve, for the first time, as a PhD examiner for Dr Lamoussa Sanogo. A great moment to reconnect with local and cross-border communities, including fellow Franco-British Council Young Leader Sally Onn, a leader at ATR (an Airbus/Leonardo joint venture)

Bridging Cambridge and Silicon Valley: Two Innovation Powerhouses, One Mission

This quarter took our CEO, Dr Franck COURBON, across Silicon Valley -from Sunnyvale (where Atari began), through Mountain View, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Berkeley and into San Francisco. It was intense in the best possible way 🚀.

Now, back in Cambridge (UK), arguably the most innovative city in Europe, carrying fresh perspectives, conversations, and energy from both sides of the Atlantic.

Two Ecosystems, Two Strengths

The contrast between Cambridge and Silicon Valley is striking, and deeply instructive.

Cambridge thrives on:

• Deep tech excellence

• Long-term thinking

• Quiet focus and research-driven breakthroughs

It is a place where hard problems are tackled at their root, often years before markets fully form.

Silicon Valley, and especially San Francisco, excels in:

• Speed and scale

• Capital availability

• Rapid execution, funding, and acquisitions

Ideas move quickly, talent is highly mobile, and ambition is built directly into the ecosystem. One landscape is flat, the other hilly, but both are global engines of innovation.

The Power of Connection

A huge thank you to Silicon Catalyst UK for providing such an outstanding platform and community. The week was defined by conversations with brilliant people across:

• Entrepreneurship

• AI

• Security and hardware security

• Semiconductors

• Defence

• Investment

What stood out most was not just expertise, but the openness and collaborative spirit and, of course, the Californian sun.

Connecting Two Worlds

What excites us most is the opportunity to connect these two ecosystems for mutual benefit. Cambridge’s depth and Silicon Valley’s scale are highly complementary. Bringing together:

• Capital

• Strategic partners

• Customers

• And frontier technology

creates real momentum—particularly for companies like Ethicronics, operating at the intersection of hardware security, semiconductors, and trust.

This is not about choosing one ecosystem over the other. It’s about building bridges between them, and turning innovation into impact.

Cybersecurity Trade Mission: Singapore 🇸🇬

Our journey began in Singapore, as part of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Cybersecurity Trade Mission. This mission provided a timely and highly valuable platform to engage with a world-class cybersecurity ecosystem, bringing together government stakeholders, industry leaders, and innovators focused on securing critical digital and physical infrastructure.

Singapore’s role as a regional cybersecurity hub made it the ideal environment to discuss hardware assurance, defence-grade security, and the increasing need for trust at silicon level. The mission enabled meaningful conversations around real-world deployment, cross-border collaboration, and how UK innovation can scale global

Strategic Engagement in Taiwan 🇹🇼

From Singapore, the mission continued to Taiwan, with the support of TAITRA Global (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) and the Taiwan Trade Centre in London. Taiwan sits at the heart of the global semiconductor supply chain, making it an essential destination for any company addressing hardware trust and assurance.

Engaging with Taiwanese stakeholders reinforced how critical hardware security has become- not only for commercial products, but also for national resilience, defence, and critical infrastructure. The discussions helped deepen our understanding of supply-chain assurance challenges and opened doors to long-term strategic collaboration.

At a recent HEC UK event, “AI and Me: How AI is shaping people and professions,” the speakers highlighted a key point - AI cannot replicate human intuition or lived experience. And that’s true. But equally important is this: AI also cannot secure itself.

AI runs on complex stacks of electronic hardware that can be tampered with, counterfeited, or compromised long before a model ever makes a decision. If we want trustworthy, private and secure AI systems, we must start by securing the infrastructure they run on.

This is where Ethicronics focuses its mission.
We are developing low-level software and hardware-integrity technologies that bring security and assurance as close to the datacenter hardware as possible. Because without trusted infrastructure, AI cannot be trusted - no matter how advanced the model.

What do you think? Should AI security start at the hardware level?
Email us at blog@ethicronics.com

It's been a busy year at Ethicronics. So, we decided to take a moment to reflect.

A university education is priceless. But what you don't get is hands-on, real-life industry experience. This is what we provided to twelve precocious young minds from the University of Cambridge, who worked with us for three months. 

They attended socials, visited embassies, and learned about what it's like to work in a flourishing start-up environment. Of course, their technical skills improved vastly. But most importantly, they transformed their minds, and grew as individuals.

Rohan Wadhawan, one of our interns -- and a young man who will indubitably go on to do great things -- said: "Over the summer, I worked with a talented group of software engineers, developing the company's core hardware assurance solution [...] It's also been very interesting learning about the inner workings of a fast-paced startup environment, and I'm super grateful for the opportunity to have worked here."

Our interns also partook in Hack@CHES2025, the world's leading hardware security hackathon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Out of 47 teams, they placed an impressive 5th. Fittingly, they celebrated by enjoying the view from the iconic Infinity Pool overlooking the Petronas Towers. 

Yes, Ethicronics is a start-up that provides hardware assurance. But it's also so much more than that. We provide the springboard on which future leaders begin their careers. We are proud to have cultivated the potential of such talented individuals. To our interns, we are very proud of and grateful for all your hard work.

At Ethicronics, we're almost always busy with events. It's important to consolidate what we've learned, and to appreciate the gems of knowledge bequeathed to us by deep-tech experts. So where have we been and what have we gathered?

The first photonic quantum computer was (arguably) designed in Bristol in 2013 -- thank you to Martin Weides for clarifying this point. Recently, as part of SiliconCatalyst's third cohort of start-ups, we attended Chipstart's event in Bristol. Here is a (blurry) picture of Franck doing his presentation!

The city's legacy in deep-tech is palpable. Each CEO gave an elevator pitch. As I watched, I became increasingly gripped by a pervasive sense of excitement. This, it occurred to me in a moment of inspiration, is how the world goes round. Novel ideas, and the execution of those ideas, function as the engine of human advancement.

Also, as a (self-admitted) neophyte in deep-tech, I learned an important lesson. Of course, when gauging the potential of a start-up, the ideas themselves are most important. But the way in which these ideas are communicated should not, by any means, be underestimated. I was struck by the clarity with which the CEOs expressed their ideas. Similarly, at Ethicronics, we strive to 'translate', as it were, deep-tech terminology to those who want to get into the industry.

Recently, our CEO, Dr. Franck Courbon, took part in the prestigious Franco-British Council’s Young Leaders Programme - an initiative designed to deepen bilateral understanding and cooperation between France and the United Kingdom.

UK Prime Minister Mr. Keir Starmer and French President Mr. Emmanuel Macron in front of Franco-British Young Leaders including Dr Franck Courbon (CEO Ethicronics)

This year’s programme coincided with a historic moment: the first EU political leader state visit to the UK since Brexit, underscoring the renewed importance of cross-channel collaboration.

The Young Leaders Programme brings together emerging leaders from a wide range of sectors to foster high-level dialogue and build lasting networks between the two countries. The week included a number of impactful engagements, including a Franco-British Defence roundtable on HMS President and in-depth policy discussions held in a House of Commons Committee Room—reflecting the programme’s commitment to substantive, strategic exchange.

A highlight of the week was Dr. Courbon's attendance at a high-profile AI panel discussion hosted at Imperial College London, featuring President Emmanuel Macron and the CEOs of Google DeepMind and Mistral AI. The panel explored the ethical, geopolitical, and technological dimensions of artificial intelligence, a topic of particular relevance to Ethicronics and its mission of promoting responsible innovation.

Ethicronics, under Dr. Courbon’s leadership, is dedicated to advancing better and transparent technology from Cambridgie to the world enabled by international cooperation —particularly at the intersection of innovation, policy, and societal impact. Participation in the Young Leaders Programme aligns closely with the company’s values and its commitment to fostering global dialogue on emerging technologies.

We would like to express our gratitude to the French Embassy in the United Kingdom, and the Franco-British Council for facilitating such a future-focused and impactful programme. Dr. Courbon's involvement reflects Ethicronics’ broader ambition to contribute meaningfully to Franco-British relations and to support a forward-looking vision of collaboration between the two nations, particularly strong in the Defence sector.

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