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With an aim to train 85,000 engineers in the area of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and embedded system design, the central government on Sunday said it is seeking applications from 100 academia, R&D organisations, start-ups and MSMEs under its Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme.
According to a statement issued by the Union ministry of electronics and information (MeitY), the programme will result in the development of 175 ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits), working prototypes of 20 systems on chips (SoC) and IP core repository over a period of five years.
“This will be a step towards leapfrogging in the Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) space by way of inculcating the culture of SoC/ System Level Design at Bachelors, Masters and Research level and act as a catalyst for growth of Start-ups involved in fabless design," said the MeitY.
“The C2S Programme addresses each entity of the value chain in electronics viz. quality manpower training, research and development, hardware IPs design, System design, application-oriented R&D, Prototype design and deployment with the help of academia, industry, start-ups and R&D establishments," it added.
Under the programme, based on the institutions’ expertise, technology readiness level (TRL) and design experience acquired during earlier SMDP programmes, proposals are invited in three different categories – design and development of systems/SoCs/ASICs/Reusable IP Core(s), development of an application-oriented working prototype of IPs/ASICs/SoCs, and proof of concept-oriented research and development of ASICs/FPGAs.
C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), a scientific society operating under MeitY, will serve as the nodal agency for the programme.
Online applications are open at the Chips to Startup (C2S) website until 31 January.
The project proposals should be submitted at C2S portal (www.c2s.gov.in) in the format prescribed at the portal. The institutions applying under the programme should meet the eligibility criteria defined at the portal and should be in line with the proposals’ guidelines.
This comes as earlier in December last year, the government approved a ₹76,000-crore scheme to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country, in a bid to position India as a global hub for hi-tech production, and attract large chip makers.
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