NTT research was used Upgrade 2026 to present Scale Academya new incubator focused on turning in-house research into products and services, is also being launched SaltGrainits first security platform built on it attribute-based encryption.
I cover it Upgrade 2026NTT Research’s annual event, which takes place April 15-16 at the Signia by Hilton San Jose. For more information on the event itself, read my previous article.
Scale Academy
Scale Academy is the structure that NTT Research uses to release selected technologies NTT research labs and comprehensive NTT R&D in commerce. NTT Research has been active ever since 2019 with focus on basic researchbut after seven yearssome of its technology is advanced enough to support it product development and business integration.
The new group is led by Bennett Indart, NTT Research’s SVP of Product Innovation. Its role is to identify promising technologies, incubate them, develop market positioning, build partnerships, and prepare for implementation. The model also opens the door foreign partnership and foreign investmenta broader approach than NTT’s internal development style.
NTT research by the numbers
“Taking basic research, theory, papers, and patents and turning them into something people actually want to use in their daily lives is another challenge entirely.,” said Bennett Indart, Senior Vice President of Product Innovation at NTT Research.
Scale Academy will start working with it technology developed within NTT instead of acting as an external accelerator. SaltGrain is already on its way outand NTT Research plans to manage the process with videos and funding portals as it forms a iterative sales model.
“There will be milestones, there will be funding gateways, and if we can’t reach those, tough decisions will have to be made.,” said Indart.
The first product to appear Scale Academy is something SaltGraina a zero-trust data security suite of business administration high value or controlled information. It is built upon attribute-based encryption, or ABEcryptographic scheme was first introduced by a 2004 paper co-written by UCLA Dr. Amit Sahai again Dr. Brent Watersnow director of Cryptography and Information Security Lab of NTT Research. The word includes “Salt,” which refers to strong hash-based security, and “Grain,” which reflects ABE’s granular approach to data access control..
NTT Research was developing a business model ABE in several years. The company presents use technical conditions in Upgrade 2024, moved to several prototypes last year, and now use Scale Academy to accelerate the sale of SaltGrain..
SaltGrain
SaltGrain attaches the access policy directly to the encrypted data. That means protection stays with the data throughout its life cycle, there is only dependence on it perimeter defenses or broad file-level permissions. The platform is designed for environments where data flows across the board organizations, teams, systems, and AI-driven workflows.
“No matter where the data goes, securing and controlling access goes with it throughout the data lifecycle. Even if a bad actor breaks through system-based protection and steals data, the data is still protected. The data becomes useless,” said Fang Wu, Vice President of Business Development at NTT Research.
SaltGrain enables more granular control over access to sensitive parts of documents and data. It is intended to support secure sharing of text, image, and video files while defending certain contents within them. The platform is intended for organizations in sectors such as financial services, health care, government, and large technology environmentswhere cooperation is necessary but the cost of data breach it can be high.
A big part of product relevance is the rise of The AI. Like other AI systems and agents get access to business documents and datathe attack surface increases. SaltGrain is designed to protect data at the data layer itselfeven more important when information is shared analytics, automation, and automated workflows.
NTT Research is also in the area SaltGrain for AI-agent workflowwhere businesses may need to provide AI systems access large sets of documents that and contain confidential or controlled information. The platform is designed to help protect both input data used by those programs and results they are productive.
“Since those documents may contain a lot of confidential information, SaltGrain will play an important role in protecting that data,” it said Kazu Gomi, President and CEO of NTT Research.
The platform is also designed post-quantum transmission. NTT Research developed the fundamentals Implementation of ABE working with it post-quantum security while we last strong performance. That gives SaltGrain role not just yet business securitybut also long-term cryptographic programming as organizations prepare a the quantum era.
SaltGrain it is also optimized so users don’t have to manage the complexity of the hidden cryptography directly. An An AI-powered data classification engine it is part of the way of the platform, which helps businesses find sensitive data and decide how it should be protected. That is important because many organizations still do not know exactly where they are very sensitive information you live.
NTT Research has previously been licensed ABE within the NTT groupwhich leads to more proof of concept. Scale Academy now combine those efforts into a one method of incubation advancing the technology to market acceptance.
For more information on Scale Academy, visit the dedicated NTT Research page or visit Upgrade 2026NTT’s two-day event on San Josewhere the company highlights that scientific discoveries and advanced concepts are moving forward into real-world products and systems. The event includes keynotes, panel sessions, and Expo with more than 30 exhibits from NTT companies around the world.
Filed . Read more about Agentic Ai, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Cybersecurity, Data, Encryption, NTT Research and NTT Research Development.