Annual report 2009 - Imec

2009 wAS A yEAR
OF TRANSITIONS,
TRANSITIONS FOR THE SEmICONDUCTOR INDUSTRy,
FOR ImEC, AND ALSO FOR mE PERSONALLy.
IIn the industry, of course, we saw the crisis and its
aftermath. A crisis that has changed the landscape
– speeding up some of the evolutions and delaying
others. One notable transition is the move towards
fab-lite, asset-lite companies, balanced by a growing
consolidation of the IC fabrication. All in all, these
changes will have a positive effect on imec, because
in the future, cross-company precompetitive research
will become even more important.
Imec mirrors the developments in the electronics industry.
Scaling is still the driver of many of the industry’s
preoccupations. But scaling has also made electronics
suitable for a whole range of applications that were
out of reach only a few years ago. Today’s electronics,
for example, enable interfaces to the human body. To
illustrate this, at imec, we have made an IC that interacts
with brain and nerve cells. And those new possibilities
drive the demand for combining technology
in heterogeneous microsystems – a domain in which
imec has extensive expertise.
2009, imec also appointed a new CEO. I congratulate
Luc Van den hove with this position and wish him lots
of success; he’s the right captain to lead our valued research
institute through the coming phases of growth
and change. For I am convinced imec will further grow:
the new cleanroom extension will be ready mid 2010,
and we also plan to start building new offices to accommodate
more researchers that will come aboard.
We see a growing collaboration in the industry; and
we have been successful in channeling a lot of that
collaboration through imec.
International collaboration, of course is the cornerstone
of imec’s business model. In 2009, we closed
new agreements with global companies, bringing more
research to imec. Research into CMOS scaling, but also
on wireless communication technology, medical electronics,
and photovoltaics.
Then there is the European collaboration. Imec is a
centre of excellence in Europe; it aspires to be part of
the research consortia that shape the future of electronics.
Therefore, we are involved in a host of projects
in the EU’s Framework Program 7, and we are helping to
prepare Framework Program 8.
INTERVIEW WITh GILbERT dEcLERck
IMEC
Important in this respect will be the future role of
smaller countries in the EU research programs. Today,
we see that the topic of cross-border funding is put
on more and more meeting agendas, so we are optimistic
for imec’s European future. European cross-border
funding is important as it provides financial resources
for collaboration between centers of excellence and
companies from various European countries or regions.
Last, but always important for us, is the collaboration
with the companies in our home region – Flanders. Imec
is at the heart of the electronics industry in Flanders.
Companies rely on us for a whole range of services,
such as access to expertise, quality design, prototype
production, and even large-volume IC production
through the agreements with our global partners.
I am convinced that collaboration in research is es sential
to come to valuable and stimulating breakthroughs.
I’m also convinced that this will remain the basis of
imec’s success.
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