From Research to Deployment: CHERI, the CHERI Alliance and the Next Wave of Secure Computing

CHERI is a hardware-based security technology that stops the most common and dangerous vulnerabilities (around 70%) from turning into serious cyber-attacks, without requiring developers to rewrite their code from scratch.

This talk will explain what CHERI is, why it matters now, and how the ecosystem is moving from research into practical deployment. It will introduce the role of the CHERI Alliance in accelerating adoption across industry, academia and government, and highlight recent progress including the launch of the CHERI Adoption Global Ecosystem Assessment Q1 2026, new ecosystem momentum through members such as Wind River, continued advances in CHERI for embedded systems, and growing government support for commercial uptake.

The session will also discuss what it takes to translate a breakthrough architecture into deployable products: standards, tools, software enablement, developer education, supply-chain collaboration, and credible business cases. Attendees will leave with a clear view of where CHERI is already creating value, where the main adoption opportunities lie, and why secure-by-design compute is becoming a strategic priority across the semiconductor and systems landscape.

Biography

Mike Eftimakis is the Founding Director of the CHERI Alliance, a non-profit industry organisation dedicated to accelerating adoption of CHERI technology worldwide. He has more than 30 years of international experience in semiconductors, processor IP, SoC design, embedded systems and business leadership. Over his career he has held senior technical and commercial roles at companies including VLSI Technology, NewLogic, Arm and Codasip, and has also founded and led his own company.

At the CHERI Alliance, Mike works with industry, academia and government stakeholders to build the ecosystem, strengthen collaboration, and help turn CHERI from a major research breakthrough into deployable secure computing products. He is a frequent speaker on hardware-enforced memory safety, secure-by-design systems, and the strategic role of semiconductors in cyber resilience.