Bridging the Frontier 
Bob Smith, Executive Director
Bob Smith is Executive Director of the ESD Alliance responsible for its management and operations. Previously, Bob was senior vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Uniquify, responsible for brand development, positioning, strategy and business development activities. Bob began his … More » SEMICON West –– Colorful and VibrantJuly 23rd, 2018 by Bob Smith, Executive Director
Positive news and analysis from SEMICON West currently dominate the coverage throughout our industry onlines. No wonder. Colorful and vibrant were the words I used when I described it to someone who wasn’t there. I used vibrant because the program itself had an unbeatable 120 hours of content with 250 speakers, 17 tracks, TechXPOT sessions on 10 stages and the popular feature, “Meet the Expert” theater. An impressive lineup of 12 keynotes and executive panels offered compelling topics that ranged from “Breakthrough Innovators Who Changed the World” to multiple looks at Artificial Intelligence. Of course, no industry conference today would be complete without a session on autonomous driving and SEMICON West didn’t disappoint with “Autonomous Driving 101: Semiconductors in the Driver Seat.” One other noteworthy session was the “SEMI Bulls and Bears Panel.” Of course, many attendees came to take part in the networking opportunities and SEMICON West didn’t disappoint here either with 15 of them, along with a welcome reception and several other receptions, and an after-hours party benefitting the SEMI foundation. Colorful is the best descriptor for the conference theme, “Beyond Smart,” which sent a signal that SEMI vertical segments including manufacturing, MedTech, transportation, IoT and data are integral parts of the conference. Three Smart pavilions dedicated to transportation, manufacturing and workforce drew large crowds of attendees.
Make no mistake –– SEMICON West is no longer a conference for manufacturing professionals only. The Smart Workforce Pavilion, for example, looked at a range of issues, such as: “Data of Diversity,” “Cultivating a Culture to Better Attract, Retain, and Help Millennials Succeed,” and “A Day in the Life of an Engineer.” Wandering from session to session and through the exhibit halls gave Julie Rogers, the ESD Alliance’s director of marketing and operations, and me an appreciation for the unique layout –– everything is color-coded and, well, colorful! SEMICON West took over a vast 504,000 square feet of the Moscone Center’s North, South and West Halls. Keynotes were held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Other sessions spilled into the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel. The co-located Inter Solar North America took 250,000 square feet.  Julie Rogers and me at SEMICON West. Several partner programs were co-located, including IEEE Blockchain and IEEE Computer Society’s “Focus on COMPSAC: Big Data and the Internet of Things.” The SOI Consortium’s event discussed the SOI supply chain, while Applied Materials held an AI Design Forum I and II. “Semiconductor Venture Funding Gap — Problems and Solutions” was an event hosted by Spirit Ventures. Another co-located event was the Wearable Technologies Conference. Standards committees consider SEMICON West a central meeting place for their activities, too. This year, 65 task force and 14 technical committee meetings were held throughout the week. SEMI is proud of one program called SEMI High Tech U that’s sponsored by Advantest, Edwards, KLA-Tencor and TEL and attended by 40 Bay Area high school students. One former graduate was inspired by the session and returns each year to encourage others to study engineering. The ESD Alliance is putting the finishing touches on our plans to become a SEMI Strategic Association Partner and will be at SEMICON West next year in a big way with a Design Ecosystem Pavilion. This year’s conference gave us a look at what’s possible –– a colorful and vibrant pavilion with our own program track. We’ll have more details soon and look forward to seeing you there. Mark Your Calendar We have several events planned for the fall, including the “Jim Hogan Presents Series –– Interview with Amit Gupta and the Solido Buyout” Thursday, September 13, from 6-9pm. We continue our informative Digital Marketing Event Series with OneSpin’s Nicolas Athanasopoulos and Dave Kelf from Breker Wednesday, October 3, from 6-9pm. Finally, we’ll be at Arm TechCon Tuesday, October 16, through Thursday, October 18, at San Jose Convention Center in Booth #820. As always, I welcome your questions or comments. I can be reached at bob@esd-alliance.org Engage with the ESD Alliance at: Website: www.esd-alliance.org ESD Alliance Bridging the Frontier blog: http://bit.ly/2oJUVzl Twitter: @ESDAlliance LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8424092 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ESDAlliance |
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