“It is surprising every year! We see students coming again, two and three times. It is amazing and important! We want to motivate students to learn about chip design, because there are so many companies doing chip design in Denmark.”
Professor Martin Schoeberl from the section Embedded Systems Engineering at DTU Compute was a happy man at the yearly DTU Chip Day in the beginning of April, where almost 190 people (students, companies and DTU staff) had signed up for the fourth DTU Chip Day. A new record!
The DTU Chip Day event is a half day conference and exhibition format with talks where DTU and the industry show how integrated electronics have become the fundamental technology. The event is organized by DTU and the semiconductor industry in the Copenhagen area.
Students have a concrete goal in mind
For years the Danish microchip industry has lacked engineers, and Denmark is not educating enough in chip design. But things are changing at DTU and in Europe generally.
CEO at IC Works Jørgen Kragh Jacobsen has participated every year in the annual DTU Chip Day. He notices a clear shift among the students:
“Unlike before, there are now more students interested in chip design who have a concrete goal in mind. This is probably also related to DTU now offering a more comprehensive educational programme, so the students gain an understanding of both analogue and digital chip design.”
Increased Focus on Microchips
In recent years, the EU has increased its focus on microchips and allocated substantial funds to initiatives aimed at bringing chip production back to European soil, recognizing that the EU is too vulnerable if production and digitalization depend on chip production outside of Europe.
The Danish Chips Competence Centre located at DTU is one of 27 national chips competence centres in the EU. As part of EU’s Chips Act (JUChips) the centre will support chip users in access to design tools, pilot lines, and SME funding (chips fund). Over the next four years, its consortium will drive innovation and strengthen commercial chip development, connecting Danish companies, startups and academia to networks and resources.
DTU has also strengthened its educational focus. A new bachelor study, ’Computer Engineering’ started in September 2023 builds a deep understanding of computers through both digital theory and hands-on programming. During the studies, students learn about the structure of digital computer systems and how to analyse and design the software and hardware structures within. DTU Compute offers a new chip design course at bachelor’s levels.
Furthermore, DTU is part of the Edu4Chip initiative, a joint education for advanced chip design in Europe with hands-on Master's course programme in Advanced Chip Design, offered by a consortium of five top European universities: Technical University of Munich, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Tampere University, and Institut Mines-Télécom with support from EU – and in collaboration with four industrial partners. Edu4Chip’s first summer school in August is fully booked and shows the great interest.
Fully Booked Event
This year, the programme was a mix of educational information from DTU Compute and DTU Electro, and technical presentations from companies - and of course a couple of quizzes.
The DTU Chip Day was organized by the steering group in collaboration with coordinator Christa Skytte Jensen. Christa is currently pursuing a master’s degree in computer science engineering, specializing in embedded systems and digital systems, while also working in Demant's digital IC department.
She expressed her satisfaction with the high level of student interest, noting that all seats were filled two weeks before the event:
"Similarly, when we reached out to the companies that had participated in previous years, they were eager to set up stands to showcase their products and engage with the students.”
Additionally, Edu4Chip, the Danish Chips Competence Centre, and a team from Aarhus University also had stands. And the lunch was funded by GN, NVIDIA, Siemens EDA and IC Works.
