ChipInvest to Connect EU, Russian Talent

The Czech Republic's new Center of Excellence for Microelectronics is not your typical incubator, said Radomil Novak, Director, US operations-West and adviser to the CEO of CzechInvest.

"It's like placing a magnet in an electric field. We are directing knowledge-flow to one place -- the Czech Republic," he said.

The Center of Excellence, based at Brno University of Technology, will provide support to small- and medium-sized technology companies by serving as a resource for engineering specialists. ChipInvest, an investment and business development agency of the Czech Republic Ministry of Industry & Trade, will supply top engineering talent from Central and Eastern Europe and Russia to leading and emerging chip companies worldwide via a network of university teams, incubators, training programs and other sources.

"Because we are leveraging pre-existing infrastructure and assets in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, we are able to bring together a critical mass of expertise and infrastructure in a very short period, by providing a formal network for training and talent-gathering for the international microelectronics industry," Novak said.

ChipInvest began in 2005 as a partnership between Cadence and the Czech Business Development Agency to support research and development of new chip technologies, emerging technology companies and advanced training in integrated circuity (IC) design. European Union- and Czech-based national funding subsidizes key educational programs that provide additional training for engineers working in microelectronics design. Through the three Czech-based incubators, entrepreneurs also can access venture capital funding earmarked for emergent technology companies.

SoftInvest, a partnership between CzechInvest and the Czech branch of Microsoft, will collaborate with ChipInvest to create an innovation center focused on embedded systems. One of the objectives of the center is to provide a partner program in cooperation with Czech universities to support the creation of approximately 20 microelectronic-focused software startup companies within two to three years.

Several global microelectronics companies are conducting research-and-development activities in the Czech Republic:

The Czech subsidiary of Motorola Freescale specializes in the development of both software and hardware system engineering.
S3 designs specialized microchips for telecommunications hardware manufacturers.
AMI Semiconductor designs integrated, mixed-signal products and structured digital products for the automotive, medical and industrial sectors.
SCG Czech Design Centre, a branch of ON Semiconductor, develops analog and mixed mode ICs.
ST Microelectronics' design center, comprised of 240 engineers, develops key applications for its product lines worldwide.
Flextronics Design Center provides design and engineering combined with electronics manufacturing and logistics services.
Cadence supports the development of key technologies at two Czech Universities by using electronic design automation (EDA) laboratories.

For more information, visit: www.czechinvest.org