SONIC at the Panathēnea 2026
Every May, Athens becomes a focal point where technology innovation and culture converge. The SONIC project is actively participating in this ecosystem, with project leadership on the ground for the Panathēnea 2026 festival, held from 27 to 29 May at the Zappeion Megaron.
Building on the momentum of its previous editions, which engaged over 3,000 founders, investors, and innovators, the 2026 festival currently positions the Zappeion as a premier innovation hub in Southeast Europe.
Representing the project at the venue are SONIC Project Coordinator Prof. Sotiris Ioannidis (ISI) and Manos Athanatos (CYMPH), engaging with international founders, tech builders, and leading investors across the festival’s exhibition and networking tracks.
Bridging the Gap Between Research and Industry Execution
Panathēnea provides an ideal environment to demonstrate how disruptive technology can be balanced with foundational digital trust. As scaling companies and digital pioneers cross paths to discuss market expansion, maintaining robust security in a rapidly changing legislative and threat landscape remains paramount.
Funded by the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), the SONIC consortium is addressing these challenges by developing a portable, containerised software marketplace. Designed specifically for agile tech infrastructures, SONIC delivers automated threat detection, continuous behavioural monitoring, and proactive vulnerability management modules that can be integrated seamlessly by growing businesses and scale-ups.
Establishing an Amphidromous Positive Impact
By embedding advanced security expertise directly into this fast-moving entrepreneurial ecosystem, SONIC establishes a highly collaborative, dual-purpose impact. This engagement allows the project team to:
–> Capture Operational Insights: Gather real-world infrastructure requirements and operational telemetry from forward-thinking creators to dynamically refine and optimise the SONIC security modules.
–> Enable Native EU Compliance: Empower the next generation of digital tools to be securely aligned with critical, impending EU regulatory mandates, including NIS2, the AI Act, and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).
As Panathēnea highlights the future of European entrepreneurship, the SONIC project remains committed to ensuring that this digital future is secure, private, and resilient from the ground up.
🌐 Are you on the ground at the Zappeion Megaron? Connect with the SONIC leadership and the CYMPH team during the festival’s curated networking sessions and exhibitions.
Discover the full festival program: https://www.panathenea.org/
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SONIC has received funding from the European Union’s DIGITAL programme under Grant Agreement No. 101249631. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.