Purdue, Imec cut ribbon on R&D hub
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Officials from Purdue University and Belgium-based semiconductor research company Imec have cut the ribbon on a new research and development hub at the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration on the West Lafayette campus.
Purdue says Imec having a presence in Indiana will “help facilitate groundbreaking advancements in semiconductor technologies.”
Friday’s ribbon cutting came about seven months after Purdue and Imec signed a memorandum of understanding to advance R&D in Indiana’s semiconductor industry.
Purdue President Mung Chiang was joined at the event by Imec CEO Luc Van den hove and Jan Jambon, minister-president of Flanders, the Flemish region of Belgium.
“This partnership with Imec, the crown jewel of chips innovation in Europe, will flourish as a strategically pivotal moment in the growing ecosystem of semiconductors in the heart of the Silicon Heartland,” Chiang said in a news release. “It also builds a bridge between our university and universities and companies in Flanders, in Belgium and in Europe.”
The new hub is Imec’s first research office in the Midwest. The company has additional offices in California and Florida.
Imec researchers will work with Purdue faculty and students at the Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue’s Discovery Park District. Students and faculty will also have the chance to work in Belgium.
“Working together, we can leverage each other’s capabilities and enhance the quality and pace of innovation to improve technological outcomes more than we could independently,” said Mark Lundstrom, Purdue’s chief semiconductor officer and senior advisor to the president. “The collaboration aims to capitalize on imec’s extensive global expertise and Purdue’s academic prowess to further propel Indiana into a prominent position within the semiconductor innovation ecosystem.”
Lundstrom added that Imec’s presence will help draw other companies that already partner with Imec to West Lafayette.