Advantech and DEKRA Sign MOU to Ease EU Cyber Resilience Act Compliance

Compliance moves to the design stage

According to the announcement, the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is entering its implementation phase, making cybersecurity compliance a growing requirement for industrial equipment and Edge AI products sold in global markets. Advantech (TWSE: 2395), which describes itself as a global leader in IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms, has signed the MOU with DEKRA, a testing, inspection and certification organization with more than 100 years of experience.

The partnership aims to help end customers and system integrators address cybersecurity requirements from the product design stage. Advantech says the goal is to speed up compliance with EU CRA requirements and international standards such as IEC 62443, reduce compliance risks and shorten time to market.

Miller Chang, President of Advantech's Embedded Sector, said at the signing ceremony that compliance is "evolving from a certification procedure before product launch into a critical consideration that customers need to address from the early stages of product design."

What the collaboration covers

Advantech and DEKRA plan to bring testing and compliance expertise into early product development. According to the companies, this should help customers identify regulatory and technical requirements across different markets, plan certification pathways in advance, and find and address potential cybersecurity gaps during development.

The collaboration covers:

• technical and feasibility assessments
• documentation review
• certification preparation
• vulnerability management
• secure development support

The companies say this approach reduces the time and costs linked to late-stage design changes. It also aims to establish a compliance process running from product concept and design through testing, certification and market deployment.

Stan Zurkiewicz, CEO of DEKRA, said companies need "verifiable evidence of safety and cybersecurity" as AI and connected technologies become part of manufacturing, energy and transportation. He described DEKRA's role as providing independent assurance.

First milestone: AFE-E630 meets IEC 62443-4-2 SL2

The first outcome is the AFE-E630, an Advantech industrial edge system designed for commercial and industrial energy storage management applications. It passed an independent assessment by DEKRA and received an Attestation of Conformity (AoC). Its security functions meet IEC 62443-4-2 SL2 requirements within the assessed scope.

Advantech says this gives a verified basis for the product's cybersecurity in these applications. It also serves as a reference for customers' later product integration and system-level compliance assessments.

Plans for Edge AI, robotics and more

Advantech and DEKRA intend to extend the collaboration to emerging areas: AI-enabled industrial systems, semiconductor manufacturing, robotics, drones and other mission-critical unmanned systems, as well as energy site equipment and transportation management.

The companies note that as Edge AI becomes more integrated with physical devices, product safety, functional safety and cybersecurity requirements are becoming more interconnected. They plan to combine Advantech's edge computing platforms and industry application knowledge with DEKRA's expertise in cybersecurity, testing and functional safety.

What it means for customers

For device makers and system integrators targeting the EU and other regulated markets, the announcement points to a model in which certification planning begins during design rather than just before launch. Whether this delivers the promised savings in time and cost will depend on how the program is applied in practice, and the announcement gives no figures on this.

DEKRA, founded in 1925, reports revenue of 4.4 billion euros in 2025 and more than 48,000 employees in approximately 60 countries. Advantech focuses on Edge Computing and Edge AI across markets including manufacturing, energy and utilities.