Principled Intelligence at ACN and INNOVIT's Value Creation Program in San Francisco
Principled Intelligence was selected by ACN as one of four Italian cybersecurity startups for the Value Creation Program with INNOVIT in San Francisco, during RSAC Conference 2026 week.
Principled Intelligence at ACN and INNOVIT's Value Creation Program in San Francisco
Principled Intelligence was selected by ACN, the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency, as one of four Italian cybersecurity startups invited to join the Value Creation Program in San Francisco, developed with INNOVIT - Italian Innovation and Culture Hub.
The program brought Framework Security, Mindstorm Security, Principled Intelligence, and Osmium Italy to the United States as part of ACN's work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and INNOVIT to support the international growth of promising companies from the Cyber Innovation Network.
For Principled Intelligence, the selection was a meaningful signal: AI governance and control are becoming part of the cybersecurity conversation, and the organizations shaping that conversation are looking closely at the infrastructure needed to make AI systems safer, more transparent, and more reliable.
From Italy to the Heart of San Francisco
The Value Creation Program took place at INNOVIT in San Francisco, in the center of one of the world's most important innovation ecosystems. INNOVIT describes its mission as bridging Italian excellence with global innovation, connecting Italian startups, companies, universities, research centers, investors, mentors, and institutions with the resources and perspective of Silicon Valley.
That setting mattered. San Francisco is not only a symbol of technology entrepreneurship; it is where many of the companies, investors, and practitioners defining the next phase of AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise infrastructure are concentrated.
For an Italian startup building trust infrastructure for AI, being selected to enter that environment through ACN and INNOVIT meant more than visibility. It was a chance to test our positioning with international mentors, investors, and cybersecurity leaders, and to sharpen how we communicate the operational risks that emerge when AI systems move from pilots into production.
Alongside RSAC 2026
The program was organized during RSAC Conference 2026, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 23-26, 2026. RSAC is one of the largest and most influential cybersecurity conferences in the world, bringing together security leaders, researchers, vendors, policymakers, and enterprise teams.
ACN highlighted RSAC as a privileged platform for tracking technology trends, opening industrial relationships, and developing commercial opportunities on a global scale. The Italian presence at RSAC 2026 included a delegation of companies working across advanced segments of digital security, from secure interaction with AI systems to predictive threat platforms, data protection, and quantum technologies for cryptographic security.
This context made the Value Creation Program especially relevant. The growth of AI is changing both how systems are attacked and how they must be defended. As AI agents become more capable, more autonomous, and more deeply embedded in business workflows, cybersecurity can no longer be separated from governance, oversight, and control.
That is exactly where Principled Intelligence works.
Five Days of Training, Networking, and Market Access
The Value Creation Program combined five days of training, networking, matchmaking, mentoring, ecosystem visits, and market-facing sessions. It culminated with the Demo Day on March 26, where the participating startups presented in front of international investors, tech leaders, mentors, and the broader INNOVIT community.
The week gave the selected companies a structured path into the United States market: strategic mentoring, direct feedback from Silicon Valley operators, conversations with potential partners, and opportunities to position their technologies in a global cybersecurity context.
For Principled Intelligence, those conversations were direct and concrete. Enterprises are moving quickly toward AI agents, copilots, and automated workflows, but they are also asking harder questions:
- How do we make sure an AI system stays within its intended boundaries?
- How do we prevent unsafe, noncompliant, or off-policy interactions before they become incidents?
- How do we give product, security, and compliance teams a signal they can inspect and trust?
- How do we make AI governance operational, not just documentary?
Our answer is that AI control needs to become an infrastructure layer. It must be fast enough for production, explainable enough for oversight, and flexible enough to reflect the policies and principles of each organization.
Where Principled Intelligence Fits
Principled Intelligence is building trust infrastructure for AI: systems that help enterprises deploy multilingual AI services that remain aligned with company rules, internal policies, corporate knowledge, and regulatory requirements.
Our first product, ScopeGuard, is a governance small language model for scope classification. It evaluates whether a user query belongs within the intended scope of an AI service, giving teams a fast, multilingual, explainable signal before an assistant responds, retrieves information, calls tools, or escalates a workflow.
In a cybersecurity setting, this matters because AI systems create new surfaces of risk. A model that answers outside its mandate, ignores business rules, or processes requests that should have been rejected can expose organizations to compliance issues, reputational damage, data leakage, and operational failures. Traditional security controls remain essential, but AI systems also need controls that understand language, intent, context, and policy.
That is why the ACN selection was important for us. It placed Principled Intelligence among a small group of companies representing the next generation of Italian cybersecurity innovation, and it validated the idea that responsible AI deployment is becoming a security requirement, not a side concern.
Photos From San Francisco
A Signal for What Comes Next
Being selected by ACN for the Value Creation Program with INNOVIT was an important milestone for Principled Intelligence. It placed our work in front of the institutions, investors, and operators who are thinking seriously about how digital security changes as AI systems become more autonomous and more deeply integrated into critical workflows.
It also reinforced a conviction at the center of our company: trustworthy AI is not just a governance theme. It is a security, reliability, and competitiveness requirement.
The companies that deploy AI successfully will not be the ones that move fastest without control. They will be the ones that can prove their systems stay aligned with their intended purpose, respect operational boundaries, and behave consistently under real-world pressure.
That is the infrastructure Principled Intelligence is building. And the opportunity to bring it to San Francisco through ACN and INNOVIT is a strong signal of where this market is going.