While Dr. Thomas W. Williams retired from Synopsys as a chief scientist and Synopsys fellow in 2009, the industry hasn’t forgotten him. Not in the least. He is this year’s recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to Electronic System Design presented by the ESD Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA). 

Dr. Thomas W. Williams, this year’s recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award.

Dr. Williams’ contributions to design testability are so numerous, impressive and widespread, one blog post can’t include everything. Instead, I direct you to the news release (https://bit.ly/2wso31y) and a news article from EE Times (https://ubm.io/2Pgvq37), and hope you will help us fete him at an award ceremony and dinner. It will be held Wednesday, November 7, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at The GlassHouse in San Jose, Calif.

The Phil Kaufman Award is our industry’s more prestigious award and honors individuals who have had a demonstrable impact on the field of electronic system design through technology innovations, education/mentoring, or business or industry leadership. From all accounts, Dr. Williams is well deserving of the award established as a tribute to Phil Kaufman, the late industry pioneer who turned innovative technologies into commercial businesses that have benefited electronic designers. Last year’s recipient was Dr. Rob A. Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for Research at the University of Pittsburgh, recognized for his pioneering contributions to algorithms and tools for analog and mixed-signal designs.

Please join us in honoring Dr. Williams. Registration information is available at http://bit.ly/2MwQdCN.

A reminder that first up in our Fall Events Calendar is “Crossing the Chasm: Building a Startup to a Successful Exit” with Jim Hogan and Amit Gupta. Open to the semiconductor and electronic system design ecosystem community, the event will be held Thursday, September 13, starting at 6 p.m. at SEMI’s corporate headquarters, 673 S. Milpitas Blvd. in Milpitas, Calif. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and the conversation will start at 7 p.m.

Jim Hogan

Amit is a well-known member of the electronic system design ecosystem who was co-founder of Solido Design Automation Inc. and served as its president and CEO until it was acquired by Mentor, a Siemens Business, in 2017. Jim, a long-time member of Solido’s board of directors, will interview Amit, now general manager, IC Verification Solutions Solido at Mentor, about his experience growing the two companies from startup to a successful acquisition.

Amit Gupta

The evening is open free of charge to all ESD Alliance member companies and is included in attendee registration for the Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS) held at SEMI’s corporate headquarters. Non-members and guests can attend for a fee of $50. Registration information can be found at: http://bit.ly/2KOxQU0

Also, we continue our informative Digital Marketing Event Series with OneSpin’s Nicolas Athanasopoulos and Dave Kelf from Breker Wednesday, October 3. Dinner and networking from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. will start the evening. The Digital Marketing Workshop 2.0, “Agility, Training and Collaboration –– The three key ingredients to master digital-driven marketing and sales,” will run from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. It is designed for CEOs, marketing executives, content creators or other from the semiconductor industry interested in improving their company’s content marketing strategy. The cost for ESD Alliance member companies is $30. The fee for non-members is $75. A blog post with more details will follow shortly.

Dave Kelf and Nicolas Athanasopoulos (at left) with Metrics’ Jens Andersen continue their Digital Marketing Series with “Agility, Training and Collaboration –– The three key ingredients to master digital-driven marketing and sales.”

Please send comments, feedback, questions and suggestions to me at bob@esd-alliance.org

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Our next event welcomes back Jim Hogan with his popular “Crossing the Chasm: Building a Startup to a Successful Exit” series. This time, Jim will interview Amit Gupta, a successful serial entrepreneur and a former ESD Alliance board member.

Jim Hogan

Amit Gupta

The evening event, open to the semiconductor and electronic system design ecosystem community, will be held Thursday, September 13, starting at 6 p.m. at SEMI’s corporate headquarters, 673 S. Milpitas Blvd. in Milpitas, Calif. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and the conversation will start at 7 p.m.

Amit is a well-known member of the electronic system design ecosystem who was a co-founder of Solido Design Automation Inc. and served as its president and CEO until it was acquired by Mentor, a Siemens Business, in 2017. Many of us may not remember Analog Design Automation, another company founded by Amit acquired by Synopsys in 2004. Between the two Canadian-based companies, he raised more than $30 million in investment from venture capital, strategic, private and government sources.

Jim, a long-time member of Solido’s board of directors, will interview Amit, who is now general manager, IC Verification Solutions Solido at Mentor, about his experience growing the two companies from startup to a successful acquisition.

Managing partner of Vista Ventures, LLC, Jim has worked in the semiconductor design and manufacturing industry for more than 40 years. His experience as a senior executive and board director in electronic design automation, intellectual property, semiconductor equipment, material science and IT companies gives him unmatched insights into what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

We hope you can join us September 13 for an evening that promises to unlock a few mysteries of the startup culture. We will leave plenty of time for questions and networking.
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As the ESD Alliance moves forward to become a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, we’re setting our sights on the inaugural Design Ecosystem Pavilion™ at SEMICON West 2019 in San Francisco’s Moscone Center July 9-11. 

We’re working from a clean, smudge-free whiteboard to create a new area designated for our Design Ecosystem Pavilion in Moscone South, a dedicated platform to showcase design from IP and EDA to embedded software and design services and more. By hosting the Design Ecosystem Pavilion during SEMICON West, SEMI brings together the entire electronics product chain through a variety of topical programs and tracks and fill out its mission to include the whole electronic product manufacturing chain.

Better yet, the Design Ecosystem Pavilion gives the Design and Design Automation Ecosystem™ a chance to design a forum to meet our community’s exact needs. We hope you will help us create a vibrant community event that highlights all of the cutting-edge technology the Design and Design Automation Ecosystem has to offer.

As we observed a few weeks ago, SEMICON West featured a host of topics relevant to the Design and Design Automation Ecosystem, from AI, IoT and Blockchain to Smart Data, Smart Transportation and Smart Manufacturing. And, that’s in addition to its traditional topics of semiconductor design and manufacturing.

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