New ideas, open tools: OCDCpro at the Chip Design Forum in Dresden

On May 13, our OCDCPro team attended the Chip Design Forum in Dresden. The program was peppered with interesting presentations that gave us some new food for thought. The keynote speech by Dr. Tauchnitz (VDI/VDE) on the current DE:sign projects and the potential of open EDA tools highlighted important perspectives for future developments in chip design and presented the project sponsor's current plans and projects. A central theme that ran through many of the discussions was the growing relevance of open source EDA tools. Although open source approaches often play a role in education, they often still face challenges in terms of technical status and production maturity compared to commercial products. Nevertheless, they are an interesting alternative to proprietary tools with their license costs and restrictions for SMEs and start-ups. In this context, the contribution of Dr. Norbert Wehn (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) and Prof. Dr. Robert Weigel (German Academy of Science and Engineering) to the DI-QDISC study was particularly exciting. DI-QDISC explored how open source tools can strengthen Europe's technological sovereignty and innovative strength, also with regard to business models and the transferability of successful open source principles to microelectronics.

The poster session enriched the program and provided an ideal framework for exchanging ideas with interested parties from other initiatives and projects in the field of chip design. We are returning with many new ideas and are looking forward to incorporating the knowledge gained into the project.