Computing’s Top 30: Gabriele Serra

Gabriele Serra is one of our "Computing's Top 30 Early Career Professionals" for 2025. This program seeks to highlight an esteemed group of rising stars who earned this honor for their exceptional early-career achievements and role in driving advancements across the computing landscape. 

Introduction

My name is Gabriele Serra. I am an engineer, Principal Software Engineer, and co-founder of Accelerat, an Italian deep-tech startup affiliated with Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa. My work focuses on safety and security-critical system software, particularly hypervisors and low-level platforms for embedded and automotive environments.

Accelerat was founded to transform years of academic research into industrial-grade products. Our flagship technology, CLARE-Hypervisor, is a hypervisor-centric software stack designed for secure and safety-compliant embedded systems, currently deployed in over 10,000 automotive ECUs across Europe and the United States. In 2025, we raised more than €1 million in funding and launched AI Bunker, a product dedicated to securing AI models deployed on embedded devices.

My role combines architecting and supervising system-level software with strategic vision: aligning research innovation with real industrial needs.

What inspired you to pursue a career in technology?

My passion for technology started in childhood. I was fascinated by understanding how computers actually worked, exploring their inner mechanisms. My first PC was a Pentium III running Windows 98. I remember opening it, switching components, and disassembling electronics simply to see what was inside. Even in primary school, I was more interested in the “why” behind technology than in the surface-level functionality.

That curiosity evolved into a structured interest in computing theory and systems. Over time, I realized that beneath every interface lies a carefully engineered abstraction layer: protocols, memory management, synchronization, hardware logic. The deeper I went, the more fascinated I became. Technology, for me, has always been a way to transform abstract reasoning into concrete impact.

What do you consider your highest achievement so far? How do you plan to build on that success?

My highest achievement so far is co-founding Accelerat and successfully transforming doctoral research into a production-ready industrial product. Taking ideas developed in a research lab such as concepts around real-time safety, hypervisor isolation, and secure architectures then turning them into software running in thousands of vehicles is rewarding. When companies adopt our technology and integrate it into their systems, I feel that our work is contributing, even if in a small way, to advancing the global technology landscape.

Building on this success means continuing to innovate with the same mindset I had during my PhD: rigorous study, constant improvement, and humility toward complex problems. In 2025, after raising €1 million and receiving the Embedded System Award for Startups for AI Bunker, we entered a new phase. My focus now is scaling responsibly, maintaining technical excellence while expanding impact, particularly in securing AI on embedded edge platforms.

Who do you draw inspiration from?

I often reflect on innovators from previous centuries. People like George Boole, Guglielmo Marconi, Claude Shannon, Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, Dennis Ritchie, Federico Faggin, and Tim Berners-Lee (and the list is pretty long!) fundamentally changed how humanity communicates, computes, and shares information.

What inspires me most is not just their brilliance, but the context in which they worked. They did not have instant access to global knowledge repositories or powerful tools. Yet they built the foundations of modern computing and communication. Because of their work, today we can hold a smartphone and access information stored on the other side of the world in seconds.

Thinking about these pioneers reminds me that impactful innovation does not require perfect conditions, it requires willingness, persistence, and courage to explore new abstractions.

How are you involved in the tech community outside your job?

I actively contribute to open-source initiatives, particularly in system-level software. I strongly believe that if you have a technical skill, you have a responsibility to use it to improve the ecosystem around you. Writing software is what I love, and contributing to open projects allows me to share knowledge beyond company boundaries.

Additionally, I value community engagement through workshops, academic collaborations, and networking events. I believe that knowledge grows when shared. Even small contributions compound over time and strengthen the broader computing community.

Is there an emerging technology or segment you find exciting?

I find AI on embedded edge platforms extremely exciting. Today’s AI systems are often general-purpose and highly energy demanding. I believe we are at a stage similar to the early days of processors and memory in the 1960s and 1970s: everyone recognized the potential, but the true revolution came through optimization, reducing size, improving speed, and tailoring architectures for specific use cases.

AI must undergo the same transformation. Instead of relying solely on large, centralized models, we need efficient, secure, domain-specific AI systems optimized for constrained hardware. That requires innovation at the system level, secure execution environments, isolation mechanisms, and energy-aware architectures. This is precisely the intersection where my expertise lies.

How do you see technology shaping humanitarian efforts in the next five years?

Interestingly, while AI is revolutionary, I hope the next five years will emphasize technologies that directly address global challenges such as climate change mitigation, illness research acceleration, and poverty reduction.

System-level innovation can contribute by enabling secure and reliable infrastructures such as smart grids, resilient transportation networks, distributed medical diagnostics, and low-energy computing for developing regions. Technology should not only optimize convenience, rather it should expand access, resilience, and sustainability.

How has cross-disciplinary work influenced you?

Early in my career, when I was still completing my master degree, I joined a cross-disciplinary group involving policymakers, urban architects, and natural scientists addressing climate change. My role was to support workshops and provide technological perspectives. This experience profoundly influenced me. I realized that patterns used in urban architecture (i.e. modularity, zoning, layered planning) have analogies in software architecture. Conversely, abstraction techniques from computing can clarify complex social systems.

Cross-disciplinary exposure trains the mind to transfer patterns across domains. It helps break rigid thinking and fosters creative problem-solving. Today, when designing system architectures, I often try to think beyond pure computing paradigms.

What advice would you give to young professionals?

Listen to your inner motivation and pursue what genuinely excites you. A career in technology is not just about securing a job; it is about dedicating yourself to solving problems you care about. Give 100% of your effort to what you love. Curiosity and consistency are more powerful than short bursts of intensity. Engage with communities such as IEEE or open-source networks where people contribute beyond their formal roles. Surround yourself with individuals who believe in technology as a force for improvement.

Most importantly, preserve the curiosity you had on day one. The industry will evolve, tools will change, paradigms will shift but sustained passion and disciplined learning will always remain your strongest assets.

Make Connections

Connect with Gabriele Serra on LinkedIn.

Create Your Own Success

Contributing to your community can help you develop a flourishing career in the field of computing. Professional advancement relies heavily on active networking and visibility to the work you do. To facilitate these contributions, the IEEE Computer Society offers several avenues.

For example, you can write a guest blog post for Tech News. By contributing your expertise on a subject, you can help the tech community and make your voice heard. Just note that this is not the same as publishing in our journals and magazines, since it is not a peer-reviewed publication.