Safe and Secure Technologies, the New BSC and UPC Spin-Off

Why It Matters

By delivering high‑performance, safety‑certified RISC‑V processors, the spin‑off reduces Europe’s reliance on foreign chip IP and opens new markets for secure, mission‑critical hardware, a growing priority for regulators and industry alike.

Key Takeaways

• Safe & Secure Technologies spins off from BSC and UPC.
• Company targets RISC‑V chips for critical infrastructure sectors.
• Flagship Safety Island tech ensures hardware fails safely.
• Spin‑off furthers European chip sovereignty, reducing external dependencies.
• BSC’s spin‑offs have raised over €44 M (~$48 M) to date.

Pulse Analysis

Europe’s chip strategy has increasingly turned to open‑source architectures as a way to sidestep the licensing constraints of traditional vendors. RISC‑V, the leading open‑source instruction set, offers designers full control over hardware specifications, a crucial advantage for sectors where security and reliability cannot be compromised. The collaboration between BSC and UPC exemplifies how research institutions can translate a decade of Horizon‑EU funded work into commercial ventures that bolster the continent’s technological autonomy.

At the heart of Safe and Secure Technologies’ offering is the proprietary "Safety Island" module. This subsystem continuously monitors processor health, detects anomalies, and forces a controlled shutdown before erroneous instructions propagate. Such fail‑safe behavior is essential for air‑traffic control, railway signalling, and emergency communications, where a single fault can have catastrophic human and economic costs. By embedding functional safety and cybersecurity into the silicon layer, the company shortens certification timelines and lowers integration risk for OEMs.

The spin‑off also signals a maturing deep‑tech ecosystem in Catalonia. With fifteen spin‑offs and more than $48 million raised across the portfolio, BSC has proven its ability to commercialise high‑performance computing research. Safe and Secure Technologies plans to design chips now and partner with foundries later, a model that minimizes capital expenditure while leveraging existing fab capacity. Investors and industry players will watch closely as the firm seeks funding, potentially accelerating the rollout of sovereign, high‑performance processors across Europe’s critical infrastructure.