Ethicronics Ltd is a Cambridge-based deep-tech company developing hardware-assurance and trusted-electronics technologies for defence, national-security and critical-infrastructure applications. Ethicronics brings strong expertise in hardware security and was selected as a NATO DIANA 2026 Innovator; it has also delivered defence-oriented hardware-assurance R&D with major industry partners.
Physical tamper and security testing is often conducted through specialist manual assessment, bespoke attack campaigns and laboratory-specific methods. This can make tests difficult to reproduce, compare across configurations or scale across multiple asset types. Conventional software penetration-testing tools also provide limited support for systematically evaluating physical and cyber-physical interference against protected electronic equipment, particularly in transport and storage contexts.
Ethicronics is seeking a reusable external evaluation capability that can generate controlled, measurable and repeatable adversarial conditions while minimising the amount of proprietary product information that must be disclosed to the evaluator. The aim is to create more objective evidence for technology development, validation and adoption, accelerate identification of weaknesses, and reduce the cost and subjectivity of repeated test campaigns. The public challenge intentionally focuses on the evaluation capability rather than the architecture of any Ethicronics transport-assurance product.
The Challenge
Ethicronics Ltd are looking for solution providers who can develop a reusable, reconfigurable and instrumented adversarial-evaluation capability for physical tamper protection of electronic assets in transit and storage. The capability should evaluate the security level of software/hardware solutions that provide tamper evidence, apply and measure controlled physical or cyber-physical interference, capture reliable ground truth, and allow equivalent tests to be repeated across configurations. We welcome approaches drawing on robotics and automation, metrology, machine vision, precision mechanics, environmental manipulation, power or sensor fault injection, sensing, instrumentation, or innovative combinations of technologies from adjacent sectors. We deliberately do not prescribe a single technical solution.
The proposed solution should be based on credible existing capability that can be adapted into a demonstrable prototype within the funded project. The innovation sought is the reusable evaluation technology and methodology itself. This is not a request to develop a new tamper-detection product or to provide a conventional consulting-only penetration test.
There is particular interest in confidentiality-preserving or limited-knowledge evaluation approaches that enable meaningful security testing while minimising exposure of sensitive product information. There is also interest in automated or semi-automated test orchestration that can vary test profiles according to factors such as journey duration, transport mode, required stealth/observability of an attempted interference, and the type of protection or sensors present.
The selected Solution Provider will be eligible to apply for up to £60,000 to develop the proposed solution towards meeting this challenge. The funding will cover a maximum three-month project, with the detailed scope and success criteria refined with Ethicronics and Innovate UK Business Connect.
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Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request up to £60,000
- Start in March 2027 and complete by 31st May 2027
- Carry out its project work in the UK.
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
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The solution must / should:
- Be reusable and reconfigurable across representative tamper evidence solution geometries.
- Safely apply controlled and repeatable physical or cyber-physical interference under operator control.
- Support multiple interference classes, for example opening/disassembly, controlled penetration or probing, deformation, environmental manipulation, power interruption, or sensor interference, with a modular route to add further scenarios.
- Support configurable test profiles reflecting journey duration, transport mode (for example road, air, maritime or mixed-mode logistics), degree of stealth/observability, and different protection or sensor configurations.
- Record what stimulus was applied, when, where and with which parameters to provide defensible ground truth.
- Support repeated tests and comparison between different hardware configurations or protection approaches.
- Minimise unnecessary destruction and use replaceable fixtures or sacrificial test articles where practical.
- Integrate with Ethicronics-provided representative test assets without requiring disclosure of proprietary security algorithms or complete internal designs.
- Produce exportable test data and clear evidence suitable for engineering review and future assurance/procurement evidence.
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The solution must/should:
- Generate time-stamped, machine-readable records of the applied test stimulus and relevant measurements.
- Allow key test parameters to be configured and calibrated, and quantify repeatability and measurement uncertainty where relevant.
- Interface with external sensors, instrumentation and system-under-test response signals using practical laboratory interfaces.
- Preferably support automated or semi-automated execution and test orchestration to reduce operator-to-operator variation.
- Allow rapid setup and reconfiguration between representative test articles and transport/storage test profiles.
- Support local/offline core operation without a mandatory dependence on external cloud connectivity.
- Support confidentiality-preserving evaluation, such as black-box or limited-knowledge modes, segmented/local data handling or equivalent approaches that minimise unnecessary exposure of sensitive product information.
- Include appropriate safety interlocks, operator controls and an auditable test record.
- Demonstrate multiple distinct interference modes during the project, ideally at least three, unless an alternative approach provides equivalent breadth and value.
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The solution must/should:
- Initially operate in a controlled engineering or laboratory environment.
- Be suitable for testing representative commercial electronic hardware, equipment enclosures and test articles; no classified assets are required.
- Support testing of assets in powered and unpowered states with appropriate electrical and mechanical isolation.
- Support configurable scenarios representative of transport and storage, without requiring access to live operational missions or classified routes.
- Operate safely under normal laboratory conditions and, where relevant to the proposed solution, controlled environmental conditions.
- Be available for repeated use during the maximum three-month development and evaluation period.
- Be capable of future adaptation to other high-value asset classes; field ruggedisation is not required within the initial project.
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he solution must/should not:
- Be limited to conventional network/software penetration-testing consultancy with no reusable test capability or tooling.
- Develop a new tamper-detection or security product for Ethicronics.
- Require testing against live operational or classified systems.
- Rely on uninstrumented destructive testing that cannot provide reliable ground truth or repeatability.
- Require explosives, weapons or other methods creating unacceptable health, safety or environmental risks for the intended laboratory setting.
- Require public disclosure of Ethicronics proprietary architecture, algorithms, sensor designs or implementation details.
- Require applicants to publish exploit details relating to a specific Ethicronics product.
- Be intended for unauthorised testing or offensive deployment against third-party systems.
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Successful applicants will have an opportunity to pitch to Ethicronics. The selected Solution Provider will then be eligible to apply for up to £60,000 grant funding to kick-start development of the proposed solution through a maximum three-month project. The solution will be trialled against representative electronic hardware with technical support from Ethicronics, with potential for further collaboration and adoption if the trial is successful.
A successful capability could be reused across multiple Ethicronics validation campaigns and, subject to commercial agreement, may have wider application across defence electronics, secure logistics, critical infrastructure, semiconductor/electronics assurance and independent test laboratories. It could also support higher-assurance evidence for future users responsible for high-value assets in transport or storage
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
- Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
- Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
- Technical support
- Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
- A potential business collaboration
- Investor introductions (if investment is required)
- Support if any Innovate UK or similar competitions are relevant.
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- Challenge launch: 5 October 2026
- Deadline for applications: Friday 6 November 2026
- Review of applicants: Monday 9 – Friday 13 November 2026
- Selection and notification of finalists: Friday 13 – Tuesday 17 November 2026
- Pitch Day: Wednesday 25 November – Wednesday 3 December 2026
- Confirm selected solution provider: By Friday 4 December 2026
- Submission to Innovation Funding Service (IFS): December 2026
- Project length: 3 months. (Starting by 1 March 2027 and complete no later than 31 May 2027)