“Crossing the Chasm: From Technology to Valuable Enterprise,” created by Jim Hogan, who will serve as impresario and interviewer, will be hosted by the EDA Consortium Wednesday, December 9, beginning at 6 p.m. Finishing this year’s series of interviews with entrepreneurs will be John Lee, founder of Gear Design Solutions, now general manager and vice president of the Apache Business Unit at ANSYS. John will offer a look at his experience as a serial entrepreneur within the Semiconductor, EDA and IP markets.

I had a chance to catch up with Jim, a tireless champion of EDA, last week to find out what inspired him to do these interviews and what we can expect in 2016. Our Q&A is below.

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  I have to believe this year’s Phil Kaufman Award presentation and dinner was unlike any other. Recipient Wally Rhines was treated to a gentle roasting by Intel’s former chairman of the board Craig Barrett, which he responded to in kind when accepting the award. A tribute video and a humorous “day in the life” video shown as part of the formal evening activities can be found on the EDAC website: www.edac.org

The 2015 Phil Kaufman Award presentation and dinner sponsored by EDAC and CEDA November 12 began with music and networking.

Wally Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics, (third from left) accepts the 2015 Phil Kaufman Award from (from left to right): Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO of Cadence and co-chair of the EDA Consortium; Shishpal Rawat of Intel and president elect of the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA); and Craig Barrett, former chairman of the board of Intel.

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As several of our industry watchers have written, the EDA Consortium’s first in a series of patent panels held in late October was a success on all counts. We had a great turnout and many attendees arrived with well-thought-out questions not all we were able to get to, unfortunately. I commend Steve Pollock, head of the Emerging Companies Committee, for organizing “Patents and Patent Litigation: Develop, Strengthen, and Protect Your Intellectual Property.” I would also like to thank Salumeh Loesch of Klarquist who pulled together the panel of patent attorneys and moderated the discussion. It was a lively, engaged group.

From left to right: San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Steve Pollock, EDAC’s Emerging Companies Committee chair, and EDAC’s Executive Director Bob Smith at the EDAC “Patents and Patent Litigation –– Develop, Strengthen, and Protect Your Intellectual Property” panel October 29.

We’re especially grateful to Samuel Liccardo, San Jose’s mayor, and John Cabeca, director of the newly opened Silicon Valley Office of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for making time to join us. The mayor reiterated the importance of technology and innovation to the Silicon Valley region, while John gave us a detailed overview of the office’s functions and participated in the Q&A session.

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This year’s 2015 Phil Kaufman Award Presentation and Dinner will be an exceptionally gala event. You are cordially invited to attend to help our industry honor Dr. Walden (Wally) C. Rhines, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mentor Graphics Corporation, and celebrate all his accomplishments.

The evening, hosted by the EDA Consortium (EDAC) and the IEEE Council on EDA (CEDA), will be held Thursday, November 12, at the 4th Street Summit Center in San Jose, Calif. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m., with the dinner and presentation commencing at 7:30 p.m.

While the selection committee received numerous nominations for well-deserving individuals, I was told that Wally Rhines’ nomination stood out. As it should. He is well known and respected throughout the EDA, IP and Semiconductor industry and is being recognized for growing the EDA and IC design industries through his efforts as a leading voice of EDA. Likewise, he is known for pioneering the evolution of IC design to SoC design.

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Talking about patents at a cocktail party is no way to make friends and a near-perfect way to clear    the room!

Nonetheless, the EDA Consortium is about to take that risk as we kick off our new Legal Series with a panel, “Patents and Patent Litigation –– Develop, Strengthen, and Protect Your Intellectual Property.”

Please join us Thursday evening, October 29, for an informative exchange. Come meet San Jose’s Mayor Sam Liccardo, who will offer opening remarks, and Trademark Office and John Cabeca, newly named director of the Silicon Valley United States Patent and Trademark Office. The event will start at 6 p.m. with networking and refreshments at the EDA Consortium/SEMI Global Headquarters in San Jose, Calif.
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Welcome to the first EDAC Connected blog post, a blog I intend to update monthly with news on happenings within the EDA Consortium (EDAC) organization.

In my role as Executive Director of EDAC, my priorities are to ensure that we are delivering benefits and relevance to our members and to promote the value and impact that the EDA, IP, Embedded and related vendors have on the worldwide semiconductor industry. Of course, I’m also focused on encouraging the entire industry to join and participate with us.

We have some activities you may be familiar with, but plenty that you may not know about –– many done behind the scenes and that’s about to change. Some of the EDAC committees that have toiled away in relative obscurity and known only by a small handful of industry insiders are about to become much better known, including License Management and Anti-Piracy (LMA), Interoperability and Export Compliance. All are immensely important to the health and vitality of our industry.

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