The Cyberagentur has published a call for expressions of interest for the “Updating and Certifying Complex Systems” (German: „Aktualisierung und Zertifizierung komplexer Systeme“, short: AkoS) program.
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) has published the call for expressions of interest for AkoS. The agency invites ideas from academia and industry that show to comprehensively update and certify complex systems more quickly and securely in the future.
The aim of the planned research program “Updating and Certifying Complex Systems” (AkoS) is to identify new approaches that will allow security-critical complex systems to be updated more quickly, tested more comprehensively, and certified more efficiently.
Complex systems consist of a series of subsystems (system of systems). Their security does not result solely from the security of their individual components, but also from the interaction between these components, their interfaces, and dependencies. Especially in safety-critical systems, such as frigates or power plants, these dependencies can have significant implications for cybersecurity.
The point of departure is a structural problem: Critical systems are subject to strict regulations and certification requirements. At the same time, certification and recertification processes are often time- and resource-intensive. In practice, this can lead to already certified systems not being updated, or only being updated with delays, in order to avoid new testing procedures. However, this is precisely what creates security risks, because outdated systems may contain known vulnerabilities.
AkoS is therefore addresses research questions that enable updates and certification to be carried out quickly, efficiently, and securely.
Through the call for expressions of interest, the Cyberagentur invites businesses, startups, universities, and research institutions to submit assessments, concept sketches, andresearch questions. The feedback helps to refine the planned research program and identify additional research needs.
Participation works via an online survey at: https://t1p.de/8ddnp
The call for expressions of interest was also published on the European Union’s procurement portal: https://ted.europa.eu/de/notice/-/detail/319908-2026
Responses may be submitted through June 19, 2026 (11:59 p.m., CEST). The AkoS group at the Cyberagentur will answer any questions regarding the process via email at: akos-ibv@cyberagentur.de .