SECOND #CHIPNATION CONGRESS (DECEMBER, 2024)

Introduction

The second edition of CHIPNATION, the leading congress of the semiconductor industry in Spain, took place in Valencia on December 2-3, 2024, at Caixaforum València. The organization of the event was excellent, so my kudos to the organisers and Patrons for their commitment and effort to make it happen, in particular to the Spanish Association of the Semiconductor Industry (AESEMI), and to the Valencia Silicon Cluster (VaSiC), for bringing all of us, experts, companies, universities, technology centres, research centres, and public administrations, together to explore the latest trends and advances in the semiconductor and microelectronics industry, and to learn about the status of implementation of the PERTE Chip.

After some initial doubts as a result of the disaster caused by the cut-off low in the Valencia region, I think that the organisers decision on not cancelling the event, nor changing its location, was absolutely right. Caixaforum Valencia is gorgeous, both in the outside, and in the inside!

All victims were in our hearts and minds during the congress, and we all felt the pain of the people in Valencia, especially during the opening, with a moving interpretation of "El cant dels ocells" from Pau Casals.

The experience was excellent. By the way, brilliant idea to materialise the spirit of the ecosystem in a beautiful and inspiring pin! Also, thx to SETT for the notebook! I forgot to bring mine, and you saved my day!

The congress provided a fairly complete agenda, full of presentations and round tables where industry and public sector leaders shared their visions and agendas, interactive workshops on innovative technologies, presentations on the future of the sector (and its transformative impact), as well as networking opportunities. However, like other attendees with whom I was able to exchange opinions with, we thought that some specific topics were missing, so I take this opportunity to share some ideas for coming events, e.g.:

1. A clear view on the current underlying strategy. Some messages were slipped in, by SETT directors, and most of the attendants are familiar with the PERTE Chip strategy, and other official documents (e.g., Recovery Plan Adenda), I feel it would have been convenient to take this chance to formally present the latest version of the official strategy, and a clear view on the budget allocated to each project category.

2. Presence of official representatives of the EU Chips-related actions, e.g., EU Chips ACT, Chips JU, EIC programme managers on related topics. There is a need for synergies inside the EU: we would all benefit if we rowed at the same pace.

3. We are not alone on this. A round table with representatives of other "PERTE Chip" around Europe (e.g., Italy, Germany, Poland) and even the USA, Japan “chips act”. Surely everyone is finding similar challenges and difficulties and it would have been interesting to learn about the good and bad practices detected in a context of coopetition.

4. An extra day to celebrate an "infoday" about the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) instruments. While it is true that the presentation of their Managing Director, Mr. Javier Ponce, shed light on its operation, achievements, challenges, aspirations, and goals, I believe that it would have been convenient to formally present the "rules of the game", the eligibility requirements, and the evaluation criteria by which the SETT will be governed to select the proposals to be financed that would serve as a guide to companies in the sector. This could be combined with some sessions led by (I guess) ICEX to show foreign companies willing to relocate to Spain the state aids available.

Presentations, Panels, and Workshops.

The agenda of the event can be consulted on an AESEMI’s website specific page. For your convenience, I include links to the videos published on the Internet with the approximate timestamps corresponding to each session:

1. December, 2nd, main venue.-

   1. Opening

   2. Opportunities and Needs in the Semiconductor Ecosystem

   3. Global Semiconductor Challenges

   4. Spanish Semiconductor Challenges

   5. Chip Chairs: Where are we after one year?

   6. Spanish Open Hardware Alliance (SOHA): Integration Project, Actions and Objectives

   7. Semiconductors Industry State: Chips Act Present and Future 

   8. Chips Design Executive Forum

   9. Towards a strategy for the internationalization of the semiconductor ecosystem

   10. Initiatives in knowledge transfer

   11. Role of the Autonomous Communities in the PERTE Chip

2. December, 3rd, main venue.-

   1. Role of Financing in the Semiconductor Sector 

   2. SETT: Working in the Present for the Spain of the Future

   3. Photonics Integration in Spain: From Excellent Research to Markets 

   4. Scaling up the Photonics Industry in Spain 

In coming posts, I will share my thoughts on some of these sessions (I could not enjoy all of them, I apologise for that). It goes without saying that you should not take any of my thoughts or conclusions by granted! It is quite possible that I am a bit biased on some specific areas, and, surely, I might have even misunderstood or misinterpreted some of the speakers’ messages. Hence, I will be very grateful in advance for any feedback that will help to improve these very personal notes and the opportunity to exchange ideas with other members of our ecosystem.

Stay tuned!

DISCLAIMER: My views are my own: partial, subjective, biased and, unfortunately, not immune to mistakes nor misunderstandings on my side. In no way I pretend to be accurate in my interpretation, so please, check the original recording provided and feel free to disagree!