The Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to Electronic System Design goes on hiatus this year.

Members of the selection committee from the sponsors –– the ESD Alliance and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA) –– made the difficult decision to postpone this year’s award until September 2021. Anyone who’s attended the dinner ceremony knows it is central to celebrating the recipient’s contributions to the industry and accomplishments. Hosting an in-person awards dinner in early 2021 is unlikely, which made postponing the 2020 award inevitable.

Nevertheless, nominations submitted in 2020 will be treated as new nominations for 2021. As always, past nominations from 2017 through 2019 will also be considered for 2021. Additional nominations will be solicited in early 2021.

The Phil Kaufman Award is the Oscars, Grammys and Tony Award for the electronic system design ecosystem all rolled into one. First presented in 1994, it honors individuals who have had an impact on the field of electronic system design through technology innovations, education/mentoring, or business or industry leadership. The award was established as a tribute to Phil Kaufman, the late industry pioneer who turned innovative technologies into commercial businesses that have benefited electronic designers. Since 1994, recipients include academics, technologists, entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors.

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Our industry portals are filled daily with news about the electronic products chain, all reinforcing the importance of system design and the transformation it has gone through over recent years. Growth and transformation are happening also within the electronic system design ecosystem as it continues to support the designer community.

In the early days of Electronic Design Automation (EDA), designers were afforded schematic capture tools and wowed by the remarkable breakthrough. These days, chip design favors a high-level system-oriented methodology and schematic entry is rarely seen. Complex SoCs never dreamed of in the 1980s drive the many and varied technologies and solutions now available. The electronic system design ecosystem, as well, is varied and broadened from EDA to include semiconductor IP, embedded software, 3D IC design and advanced packaging for system scaling and service companies that provide design know-how and resources.

Tracking the progress and growth of the electronic system design ecosystem is the Electronic System Design Alliance, embracing the changes and promoting the message that design is where electronics begins. The $10-billion electronic system design market segment is supplying the tools and infrastructure to streamline chip design and enable emerging applications and other advances underlying the $2 Trillion global market for electronic products.

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