Semiconductor Education Alliance to address skills shortage
ARM in the UK is coordinating a global education initiative to boost semiconductor skills.
The Semiconductor Education Alliance has support from partners including STMicroelectronics and Arduino in Italy as well as Cadence, Cornell University, the Semiconductor Research Consortium, Synopsys, Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, the All-India Council for Technical Education, the University of Southampton and Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain.
This joins the European Chip Skills Academy launched by Semi and an online, remote learning programme for power semiconductors from Semiwise in Scotland.
“The semiconductor industry’s global strategic importance is more widely understood than ever before, and this increased recognition is unlocking tens of billions of dollars of investment in all aspects of the semiconductor space: from design to fabrication and deployment,” said Gary Campbell, EVP Central Engineering at ARM. “The opportunity for growth and innovation is clear – but the availability of the right skills in the workforce could be a significant barrier to progress. In my role leading the central engineering organization at ARM, this is a hot topic for myself and my peers and colleagues across the business – and we believe the answer lies in stronger cross-industry/academia collaboration.”
- Semi launches €4m European Chip Skills Academy
- Parliamentary committee blasts lack of government plan for STEM
- Semiwise launches online power training course
“To ensure these challenges don’t hinder industry growth at this critical time, the alliance is urging anyone with contributions to make to the semiconductor skills pipeline to get involved,” said Campbell. This includes the UK Electronic Skills Foundation (UKESF) which places student interns in electronics companies in the UK as well as Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.
Deliverables will include competency frameworks tailored to the industry needs of specific geographies, and accelerated educational and training pathways, resources, and services that will help to build and support future talent pools.
It also includes a global SoC design platform for academia with access to the latest semiconductor fabrication technologies from ARM and partners.
“Arduino was founded on the belief in breaking down the barriers around the electronics landscape, so aligning the industry, leveraging shared resources and fostering communities of best practices is a natural fit for our education and engagement expertise. We are thrilled to join the outstanding leaders in the Semiconductor Education Alliance and help bridge the skills gap within the sector to ultimately accelerate individual opportunities, unlock new innovation and increase the growth of this vital industry,” said Massimo Banzi, Arduino’s co-founder, chairman and CMO.
The alliance is an evolution of ARM’s existing education model which the company will coordinate. Community members will share resources, capabilities, and expertise in a flexible, federated and open model through a variety of forums.
- TeenTech awards for 2023
- Re-imagining STEM education through robotics
- Raspberry Pi, Deepmind launch AI for schools
The aim is to give teachers, researchers, aspiring or practicing engineers, and learners easier access to critical resources and unlock new opportunities to collaborate on projects such as joint bids for research grants.
“Cadence and ARM have spent several years collaborating to fuel next-generation design through the Cadence Academic Network and ARM University Program, and both companies have a common mission to introduce intelligent system design technologies to next-generation innovators. This latest collaboration provides universities and students with easy access to industry-grade technology and has yielded multiple educational materials for professors, including cloud-based webinars, seminars and course curriculums. The recent ARM VLSI Education kit includes the full Cadence digital flow, and additionally, more than 600 professors worldwide have downloaded the kit from the Cadence Academic Network website to date,” said Yoon Kim, VP and Chief of Staff to the CEO, Cadence
Other projects already in the works include new VLSI design educational resources using state-of-the-art EDA tools and IP as well as distance learning solutions in computer engineering and informatics are being developed from ARM and partners in industry and academia.
“STMicroelectronics has a history of strong support for STEM education, especially at the university level. We see this as vital and we engage in a broad range of collaborative activities with Academia across the globe,” said John Rossi, Vice President, AME Strategic Marketing, STMicroelectronics.
“We accept a responsibility to help develop the next generation of workforce talents for the electronics industry and its ecosystem. As a result, we’ve long emphasized the development of educational content with our University partners and by opening our professional development tools to everyone, as we’ve done here. Working with ARM and the other partners, the Semiconductor Education Alliance will give us all even greater visibility and resources to prepare students, makers, and professional to meet the needs of tomorrow’s Industry. Together will help create the expertise for forthcoming engineers to build a better future: more connected, more efficient, smarter, and more sustainable,” he said.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
