As part of the significantly increased investment in chip production across Europe, the EU is supporting the education of young students to boost interest in pursuing careers within the chip industry. A key initiative is the EU co-funded project Edu4Chip, in which five universities have joined forces to offer courses to students.
In August, the first summer school took place at DTU, and the interest was overwhelming: more than 200 people wanted to participate, but there was room for only 45 master’s and bachelor’s students from eight European universities.
Throughout the week, they spent time together with 25 academic staff, primary from the partner universities. A week with lectures and hands-on, keynotes, company presentations, all mixed with social activities, like ordinary summer schools.
“It has been very good. Everything works very well. I just got back the survey from the students, and everybody is very happy, both social and academic,” said the summer school organizer from DTU Compute, Associate Professor Luca Pezzarossa.
Edu4Chip Coordinator emphasizes the importance of learning activities
The course itself followed the chip production from specifications, design, implementation, verification, and then producing – not physically but how to handle it. And the students were introduced to open-source tools. They also gained insight into the chip industry in Europe. On the final day, the students presented in groups one of the topics from the summer school, where they dived a little deeper into the topics.
Dr Michael Pehl is Senior Researcher and Adjunct Teaching Professor at TUM – Technical University of Munich; he is also the coordinator of the Edu4Chip initiative. He was very pleased with the summer school:
“I enjoyed a lot this great first Edu4Chip summer school organized by DTU in Copenhagen with inspiring key notes, interesting lectures and networking opportunities for our Master's and Bachelor's students. I am looking forward to upcoming events will similarly contribute to the success of our project. I am convinced that such events are highly important for the success of the European Chips Act, which can only succeed if not only the infrastructure but also a sufficient amount of well-educated workforce for chip design is available in Europe.”
Head of DTU Compute: Be curious and open-minded
In his welcome address on the first day, Professor and Head of Department at DTU Compute, Jan Madsen, emphasized the importance of chip design:
“We have seen that both the US and EU have chip acts – strategies with a lot of funding to make sure we will keep on in the race and be able to protect our own interest within chip technology.”
He encouraged students to be curious and open-minded, to explore topics they hadn’t considered before, as they might prove useful in the future.
Among the students, there were clear takeaways. Klemens Priskorn, who will complete his diploma in computer engineering at DTU in December, shared:
“It has been very exciting to meet a lot of international students and academic staff, lecturers, etc. You get a glimpse of what’s happening across Europe in the chip industry and the strengths of different countries.”
Jakob Juul Dehlsen, who just finished his BSc in Electronics at DTU and starts his master’s on 1 September, added:
“I got a lot out of the week. And it’s a really good format. It’s fun to hear keynotes and talks from different projects, alongside the teachers who are present. And then there’s the whole social aspect – meeting people from all over Europe who share your interests. It’s been really exciting and really fun.”
