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.

There has never been a more important moment to strengthen collaboration across hardware, security, and trusted technologies—the foundations of defence, resilience, and technological sovereignty. While Ethicronics is a small but ambitious company spanning software, hardware, and security, we are deeply committed to contributing to these ecosystems and building bridges between the UK and France.
   

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.