Silicon

www.silicon-europe.org

Developing a Leading-Edge European Micro- and Nanoelectronics Cluster for Energy Efficient ICT

Europe
Eindhoven Leuven

Dresden

Grenoble

Executive Summary Theme: Regions of Knowledge [FP7-REGIONS-2012-2013-1]

Jaunary 2012

Silicon Europe Summary

1. Concept and Objectives
Four of the leading European micro- and nanoelectronics regions are joining their research, development and production expertise to form the transnational, research-driven cluster Silicon Europe The Leaders for Energy Efficient ICT Electronics. The cluster partners include four national consortia that all have established structures for the close cooperation of research, business and the authorities, thus fullfilling the requirements of a triple helix consortium. These high-potential mature clusters are Silicon Saxony, centred around Dresden (Germany), Point-One, centred around Eindhoven (Netherlands), Minalogic, centred around Grenoble (France), and DSP Valley, centred around Leuven (Belgium). The partners of Silicon Europe are linked by a common goal: They are focussed on securing Europe its postion as the worlds leading centre for energy efficient electronics. While aiming to reach this main goal, Silicon Europe will make substantial contributions toward realizing several partial goals that will be of paramount importance for Europes future economy (regarding Europes competitiveness), science (regarding the securing of know-how for the manufacturing of KET1-relevant technologies) and society (regarding solutions for global mega trends2).

Strong partners for a common goal The partner clusters in total have nearly 800 members (297 in Silicon Saxony, 204 in Minalogic, 170 in Point-One, 75 in DSP Valley), more than 75% of which are SMEs. They count for more than 150,000 jobs, thereby covering more than 60% of the respective jobs in Europe. Highly relevant research players such as imec (BE), CEA-Leti (F) and Fraunhofer (D) as well as large companies such as Philips, NXP, Globalfoundries, Infineon, STMicroelectronics and Thales are active in the partner clusters. The established local cluster structures are close. In Dresden, all respective partners are represented formally by Silicon Saxony (partner 1), for the other regions the local/regional authorities became full partners as the respective cluster organizations cover research and business only. In total, there are 10 legal entities involved in the project. All players are strongly committed to Silicon Europe.
1

The European Commission defines Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) as those that will be the main driving force for the economic and social development of the European Union, e.g. micro- and nanoelectronics. mega trend: large scale, sustainable trend triggering major changes in society and technology, e.g. the aging European society, energy efficiency, sustainability. See also ch. 4.

Transnational Collaboration for a Strong Silicon Europe The objectives of Silicon Europe are closely connected to the agenda of the European Union and significantly contribute to its programs. For example, by intensifying the transnational colloboration between regional research-oriented competence clusters, Silicon Europe will make a substantial contribution to the EUs growth strategy for the coming decade, Europe 2020. Europe 2020s focus lies on the advancement of research and development. This includes the development of environmentally friendly technologies as well as activities to secure consistent economic growth. By joing their forces, the Silicon Europe partners will also contribute to a number of sub-programms to Europe 2020, the so-called flagship initiatives. - A Digital Agenda for Europe seeks to speed up the roll out of high-speed internet and to reap the benefits of a digital single market for households and firms. Advanced micro- and nanoelectronics play a significant role in reaching these goals. - A Resource Efficient Europe is designed to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, by decarbonising the economy, increasing the usie of renewable sources, modernising the transport, and promoting energy efficiency. Silicon Europe partners are already committed to the increase of energy efficiency in micro- and nanoelectronics. In addition to these central contribution, Silicon Europes results will also have a positive effect on other flagship initiatives: An Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era wants to improve the business environment, especially for SMEs, and to support the development of a strong, sustainable industrial base able to compete globally. An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs wants to modernise the labour market. Silicon Europe will strengthen the European micro- and nanoelectronics sector, thus defending its global position and also creating new and secure existing jobs.
Silicon Europe focusses on the following specific objectives: 1) Promotion of micro- and nanoelectronics as Key Enabling Technology for the traditional industry, unlocking new solutions for the major societal challenge on energy efficiency. This promotion will be supported by the development of a new communication concept on the strategic importance of micro- and nanoelectronics. 2) Securing European know-how for Europe: Using inter-cluster synergies and complementarities a. with research institutes and universities, for access to the newest technologies and to highly qualified competencies and staff, b. with fabless design houses for the development of new functionalities and/or architectures for the micro- and nanoelectronics, c. and with value adding system integrators for the market valorisation. 3) Opening up new markets and boosting competitiveness especialy of SMEs by improving innovation and technology transfer from research to market, and by developing an internationalization strategy inside and outside Europe, supported by the creation of a common identity for a (virtual) European semiconductor cluster.

2. The Challenge of Silicon Europe The Need for Resource and Energy Efficiency
The world faces a huge challenge: Due to the emergence of developing and transitioning countries - particularly China and India - and the resulting rise in living standards of the population, world energy demand is dramatically increasing. By 2030, an increase by 50% to 160500 bn kWh is forecasted, and there will be another doubling to 321,000 bn kWh by 2050.3 There are several approaches to address this challenge, and considerable achievements have been made already. For instance, in the field of energy efficiency, the first nine measures under the Ecodesign Directive4 are expected to reduce power consumption by some 340 bn kWh by
3

Shell Energy Scenarios to 2050, 2011 Shell International BV, http://www-static.shell.com/static/aboutshell/downloads/aboutshell/signals_signposts.pdf The Ecodesign Directive provides EU-wide rules for improving the environmental performance of energy related products through ecodesign.

2020 (i.e. the equivalent of the output of 77 typical power stations)5. Other EU policies, notably access to financing for energy efficiency under the Cohesion and Structural Funds6, are also creating positive results. France, for instance, will use available EU funds to reduce energy consumption by more than 50% per square meter of its building stock. However, the existing efforts are not sufficient. All scenarios within the Energy Roadmap to 20507 show electricity will have to play a much greater role than now (almost doubling its share in final energy demand to 36-39% by 20508) and will have to contribute to the decarbonisation of transport and heating/cooling. Electricity could provide around 65% of the energy demands of passenger cars and light duty vehicles, as shown in all decarbonisation scenarios. Final electricity demand increases even in the high energy efficiency scenario. Consequently, according to the Roadmap, prime focus should remain on energy efficiency. Therefore, improving energy efficiency is a priority in all decarbonisation scenarios and thus also one of the major challenges with regard to the flagship initiative of a resource efficient Europe.

3. Contribution of Micro- and Nanoelectronics to the Solution of the Problem

Micro- and nanoelectronics are the basis for a strong European economy. It is ubiquitous there is no computer, mobile, appliance or even car without it. Electronic components also contribute to improving manufacturing processes or to enabling new communication technologies. Thus, micro- and nanoelectronics are a key driver for innovation for almost all sectors and a Key Enabling Technology for the vast number of industrial fields and sectors.

As one of the key enabling technologies, micro- and nanoelectronics, including semiconductors, are essential for all goods and services which need intelligent control in sectors as diverse as automotive and transportation, aeronautics and space. Smart industrial control systems permit more efficient management of electricity generation, storage, transport and consumption through intelligent electrical grids and devices9. Smart control systems are also
5

6 7

8 9

Flagship initiative on a resource efficient Europe, COM(2011)21 final, 26.1.2011; Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe, COM(2011)571 final, 20.9.2011 http://ec.europa.eu/resource-efficient europe/pdf/resource_efficient_europe_ en.pdf financial tools set to implement the Regional Policy of the EU The EU is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below 1995 levels by 2050. The Roadmap explores the challenges posed by this object while at the same time ensuring security of energy supply and competitiveness. http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy2020/roadmap/doc/com_2011_8852_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/files/communication_key_enabling_technologies_sec1257_en.pdf

crucial to increasing the efficiency and reducing the unwanted emissions related to the use of conventional fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) in all its forms and applications. However, the global competition is hard and Europe has a declining share of worldwide investments in microelectronics. From a total investment of 28bn in microelectronics in 2007, only 10% was made in the EU compared to 48% in Asia. Europes semiconductor market share has declined from 21% to 16% since 2000. Nonetheless, total direct employment in microelectronics in Europe is over 110,000 plus 105,000 in equipment manufacturers. Nevertheless, Europe has a number of dedicated regions with critical mass and particular semiconductor competencies which are globally renowned. These clusters, which jointly will implement Silicon Europe, address all application fields and have access to the most advanced technologies and are key assets for European industrial competiveness10.

4. Silicon Europes Impact on Europes Economic and Innovative Strength

By joining technological expertise and resources of Europes leading players in European microand nanoelectronics the Silicon Europe cluster will create a new quality of transnational collaboration. This will enable Europe to become the worlds leading centre for energy efficient electronics while effectively working to counteract increasing energy demand. Silicon Europes efforts in micro- and nanoelectronics will significantly contribute to Europes economic and innovative strength both in the short and the long term. In the short term, microand nanoelectronics will help traditional industries to open up new markets and their utilisation will lead to the increase of energy efficiency in all sectors. Furthermore, Silicon Europe completes and strengthens the value chain of Europeans semiconductor eco-system will be a role model for inter-cluster cooperation. Ultimately, the European semiconductor industry will be boosted and thus enabled to take on the Asian and global challenge on the market. Last but not least, the Silicon Europe initiative will raise the awarness of the importance of the European semiconductor industry in the wider public and authorities. The capacitiy to generate innovations and successfully transfer them to the market is a key skill for Europe. This innovative force is decisive for the competitiveness and therefore ultimately for Europes sustainability. In order to maintain and strengthen Europe, securing the innovative ability must be equated with securing the future of Europe. It is a task to look far ahead into the future and to detect even weak signals in order to identify any resulting changes, to verify the relevance of these changes and assess them from a strategic viewpoint.

10

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/files/staff_working_document_sec512_key_enabling_technologies_en.pdf

Micro- and nanoelectronics have a major impact on and therefore will make a significant contribution to the successful handling of the mega trends, Europe is confronted with, including e.g. climate protection, a society that is shifting from industry to knowledge, the globalisation and optical, energy and environmental technologies. Mostly, the sectors developments and its findings regarding energy efficiency are effecting not only the technical disciplines but also the populations daily life.

5. Associated Work Plan

In order reach the described goals and provide the desired results, the partners of Silicon Europe designed different work packages and will participate in the initiatives activities according to their expertise.

Silicon Saxony Management GmbH Thomas Reppe Manfred-von-Ardenne Ring 20 01099 Dresden Germany Email: reppe.t@silicon-saxony.de Tel.: +49 351 8925800 Fax: +49 351 8925801

MINALOGIC Jean Chabbal 3, Parvis Louis Nel F-38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 France Email: jean.chabbal@minalogic.com Tel.: +33 438 78 1947 Fax: +33 438 78 5349

DSP Valley Peter Simkens Gaston Geenslaan 3001 Leuven Belgium Email: peter.simkens@dspvalley.com Tel.: +32 1624 1440 Fax: +32 1624 1449

PointOne Arjan Gelderblom HTC 69 1d 5656 AG Eindhoven NL Email: arjan.gelderblom@point-one.nl Tel.: +31 88 5554333 mob +31 6 5160 3446