New philosophy for research programmes

IMEC has launched three new programmes that will allow partners to gain an exclusive insight into its long-term research in the fields of design methodologies and wireless communication systems.

IMEC has launched three new programmes that will allow partners to gain an exclusive insight into its long-term research (5 to 10 years ahead of industry) in the field of design methodologies and wireless communication systems.

This benefits both parties: the partner can apply findings to the road mapping of its developments while IMEC benefits from very early feedback, ensuring that new research is steered accurately, towards industrial needs.

One of IMEC's strengths is the combination of advanced research by small highly skilled teams, and the more industry-oriented research of its IIAPs (IMEC's industrial affiliation programme).

Now IMEC is taking a leaf from top US universities where sponsorship programmes offering early access to ongoing research are a common business model.

Within the framework of a new long-term research sponsorship initiative, IMEC is launching a set of programmes that offer access to research work at three discrete levels.

Under Plato programmes, partners have access to a cluster of researchers working in a specific area.

They will receive regular research reports, can participate in review meetings, and can delegate their own researchers to IMEC for short periods of time in order to have a constructive interaction with the IMEC research team.

In Aristotle programmes partners can single out one specific research topic and have access to all detailed information on the topic.

With Socrates programmes partners can participate in biannual workshops organised to share ideas and exchange information on specific topics.

This programme will facilitate collaboration between different partners, all investigating similar topics from varying aspects.

With the launch of these long-term research programmes, two Plato clusters have been defined and one Socrates programme will start shortly.

The Plato cluster on future system design technology is looking into new methodologies for designing highly complex applications on heterogeneous multiprocessor platforms as well as computer-aided design (CAD) tools and middleware (including RTOS) support.

It should include support for the data and instruction/reconfiguration management, which have a dominant effect on the overall power efficiency.

Today more than 12 researchers are active in this long-term research cluster, which bundles research topics such as: management of dynamically allocated complex data types; reconfigurable processor mapping and handling of concurrent tasks; and on-chip interconnect networks in wire-dominated technologies.

The Plato cluster on wireless communication systems is investigating generic enabling solutions.

These range from innovative DSP algorithms and mixed analogue/digital transceiver architectures to circuit implementations and design methodologies for a number of cutting-edge future wireless applications domains.

The applications include multimode (or 4G) terminals, employing advanced multiple-antenna techniques, which are optimised for multimedia applications or ultra-low-power body-area sensor networks for health monitoring applications.

About 20 researchers are active in this cluster.

The Socrates programme on future system design technologyis intended to disseminate progress reports on this long-term research programme and on system design in general.

Participating companies will benefit from the discussions and gain early insight through feedback from experts.

Internationally renowned experts from academia and industry will be attracted to participate in these panel discussions and in general to comment on the long-term research programme achievements.

Access to IMEC's Plato and Socrates programmes is widely available, to industrial partners already involved in IMEC's application and design methodology research via IIAPs, as well as to new partners who want a closer view of the long-term research in these areas.

The proposed programmes are accessible to partners on a bilateral basis and, depending on the programme selected, research progress is communicated at different levels of detail, including in-depth reports, workshops and discussion papers.

By contrast, IMEC's IIAP programmes enable partners to actively participate in the research and obtain IP rights on the results.

Whereas, topics in IIAP programmes are 2 to 5 years ahead of market introduction, the long-term research topics available in the new research framework are 5 to 10 years ahead.

IMEC expects its partners to initiate a variety of Aristotle programmes; they may propose a research topic, which is suited to IMEC's capabilities and interests.

If IMEC agrees that this topic is in line with its own roadmap, the topic can be incorporated into it, and a new Aristotle programme will be initiated.

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