Current relevance
Why Secure X Operation?
With the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), regulatory requirements for manufacturers, importers, and distributors of products with digital elements are increasing significantly. At the same time, IT/OT convergence, edge architectures, and hybrid infrastructures are raising complexity and expanding the attack surface. Many companies face the same challenges, yet try to solve them alone or wait until it is too late.

Secure X operation with ADS-TEC
Security that pays off in availability

What it’s about:
What if cybersecurity were not just a requirement, but a real competitive advantage? The Innovation Circle Secure X Operation, initiated by ADS-TEC, creates a collaborative framework for practical security solutions. Industrial companies, start-ups, and research partners jointly develop actionable approaches for secure products, robust operating models, and more efficient implementation of regulatory requirements.

Focus topics:
The current focus is on OT update management as a key area of action in heterogeneous system landscapes. In addition to related topics such as device inventory, configuration management, audit & monitoring, questions being addressed include:

What we aim to achieve:
Regulatory requirements are not only met but used strategically: cyber resilience becomes a competitive advantage instead of a compliance obligation – forming the foundation for stable, future-ready, and trustworthy business models.

the company
Shaping OT security with ADS-TEC
The family-owned technology company has been developing and producing IT systems for industrial environments for over 40 years. In addition to industrial PCs, terminals, and displays, ADS-TEC Industrial IT offers integrated solutions for OT security and secure remote maintenance. The combination of high-performance firewalls and the company’s proprietary IIoT service platform forms the basis for protected access, high system availability, and efficient service processes across the entire lifecycle.
More information
Growth areas and innovation circles
The Innovation Circle Secure X Operation with ADS-TEC is anchored in the “Industry” growth area. Additional innovation circles are aligned with the eight growth areas.

Growth areas
Across eight growth areas, we cluster the key challenges of tomorrow. As a thematic framework of the NXTGN innovation platform, the growth areas help connect science, industry, and start-ups in a targeted way with topic-specific networks.

Innovation Circles
Building on the eight growth areas, the Innovation Circles create a concrete framework for company-driven collaboration. As anchor partners, selected companies contribute a strategic growth area and jointly shape topic-specific innovation ecosystems together with start-ups and academia.
Contact us
Shape innovation actively
Do you have questions about the Innovation Circle Secure X Operation or would you like to get involved? Feel free to contact us!

Bianca Kiefer
Senior Innovation Circle Manager NXTGN

Simon Göggel
Head of Product Management ADS-TEC

