A year ago, I would have needed more than a crystal ball to predict that I would soon be joining the EDA Consortium as Executive Director. In the past eight months, I have gained a new appreciation for the EDA industry and the larger electronic design ecosystem that it is a key part of. In turn, electronic design itself is a vital component of the overall worldwide semiconductor ecosystem. “Where Electronics Begins” is an apt description of the role that EDA and the other entities in the electronic design ecosystem play in the semiconductor universe.
We took an informal survey during the Design Automation Conference in June to gauge EDAC’s perception with its members and asked which of our initiatives are most beneficial. Interoperability scored highly, as did our marketing initiatives –– communications, emerging companies and tradeshows. In fact, events hosted by the Emerging Companies Committee (ECC) received high scores for offering great value. The Market Statistics Service (MSS) had a respectable showing as well. Expert control and license management and anti-piracy did not, which tells me we need to do better at explaining how valuable these two initiatives are to our community.
