SINANO Institute, Technical Coordinator of ICOS a new European consortium on semiconductors

The ICOS – International Cooperation On Semiconductors – Project  was recently accepted by the European Commission. Starting in January 2023 for a period of three years, it is funded by the Horizon Europe research program.

An ambitious project in the framework of the European strategy for semiconductors

Lead by Francis Balestra, GINP-CNRS coordinator and Director of the Sinano Institute, ICOS will implement cooperation actions in order to participate to the creation of an international network of semiconductor players. It ultimately aims to strengthen Europe’s position in global value chains in this area, dominated by Asia and the United States. Indeed, the strategic importance of semiconductors, revealed by the recent international crises, is the subject of a real European action plan. This is in particular the objective of the EU Chips Act which draws up a roadmap to make the continent one of the world leader in semiconductors.

In this context, ICOS aims to identify and support the establishment of the most promising scientific collaborations by targeting all or some of the current leaders in the sector . The method used will first be based on an exhaustive analysis of the value chains of semiconductors for electronics and photonics, the strengths and gaps of European and international industries in this area, as well as emerging technologies. Then, thanks to the results obtained, ICOS will highlight the research subjects likely to benefit the most from the European strategy. Future bilateral or multilateral research initiatives will therefore be able to rely on the results of ICOS in order to ensure optimal collaboration.

A network of partners from 9 European countries.

It includes the main actors in the domain: universities, research and technology organizations (RTOs), key semiconductors companies and industrial associations.

In addition, non-European partners – United States, Japan, Taiwan – are involved in two Advisory Boards, which reinforce the global and industrial dimensions of ICOS.