BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – SEMI, the industry association serving the global electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, today announced that SEMI Europe, as the lead of a new 18-partner consortium, has won up to €4 million in funding to develop the European Chips Skills Academy, an initiative to help tackle the skills and talent shortages in Europe’s electronics industry and propel its long-term growth. The initiative is backed by more than 30 partner research organizations, vocational and education training providers, certification agencies and industry stakeholders.

The European Chips Skills Academy will expand on the Microelectronics Pact for Skills and the EU Chips Act to support the microelectronics ecosystem in Europe to attract new talent. The academy will deliver targeted European-wide training in key microelectronics fields such as automotive and additive manufacturing. The grant, provided by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme, will fund the academy for four years. The European Chips Skills Academy is the second phase of the Microelectronics Training, Industry and Skills (METIS) consortium. Both initiatives are designed to foster microelectronics industry collaboration with key education, training and certification providers to address the skills shortage and European competitiveness.

“The pan-European alliance guiding the European Chips Skills Academy will leverage the diverse and considerable strengths of its many partners from across the microelectronics’ ecosystem and industrial value chain,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “The project aims to bring greater strategic foresight to the evolution of professions and skills in the industry by applying evidence-based, data-driven success metrics to workforce development.”

“Rapid semiconductor industry growth in Europe and around the globe in the years ahead necessitates that we quickly scale up the region’s training efforts and drive greater cohesion of skills strategies across Europe to meet demand for the qualified workers required to sustain innovation and growth,” said Laith Altimime, president of SEMI Europe. “The European Chips Skills Academy will be the first decentralized microelectronics skills provider in Europe to help overcome this critical workforce development challenge.”

Expected to begin work in autumn 2023, the European Chips Skills Academy consortium consists of the following organizations:

• Asociación Nacional de Centros con Certificados de Profesionalidad (ANCCP) - Spain
• Association for European NanoElectronics Activities (AENEAS) - France
• Budapest University of Technology & Economics (BME) - Hungary
• DECISION Etudes & Conseil - France
• Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) - Germany
• Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) - Austria
• Infineon Technologies - Austria
• Information Centre on Academic Mobility and Equivalence (CIMEA) - Italy
• Innovazione Apprendimento Lavoro Friuli Venezia Giulia (IAL-FVG) - Italy
• Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec) – Belgium
• Knolyx - Romania
• Melexis - Belgium
• Okmetic - Finland
• Platform Talent voor Technologie (PTVT) / European STEM coalition - Netherlands
• SEMI Europe - Germany
• Silicon Saxony - Germany
• Technical University of Ostrava (VSB) - Czechia
• Tyndall National Institute - Ireland

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