The Areas of Advance support Chalmers' ambitions to join forces around the major societal challenges that require support and collaboration between several different disciplines and external parties. We have met Erik Ström, who is the director of the Area of Advance Information and Communication Technology, ICT, to talk about the important projects that are planned for next year.
Hello Erik - What's going on for 2025?
"Ahead of 2025, the ICT Area of Advance has two main things in the pipeline. Firstly, we are continuing our work to stimulate interdisciplinary security research at Chalmers by planning for a security workshop in March. We arranged a couple of workshops in 2024, and we intend to hold a few more next year. The idea is that there will also be an initiative seminar in the autumn on the subject. Secondly, we are currently planning an initiative seminar on the theme of semiconductors in April."
Why is security research important?
"With the increased digitalization of society, we rely on the systems to work and be accessible to us citizens, as well as their robustness against attacks. This can be anything from buying bus tickets to controlling critical infrastructure such as electricity and water supply. In addition, we have increased political tensions in the world, and there are national and global security needs that need to be addressed. Therefore, education and research in the field of security are very urgent! It involves both educating engineers with cutting-edge expertise and conducting research in cybersecurity. But there is also a need for a general increase in security skills in society."
Activities underway in the area of security
"We are therefore continuing our work to stimulate interdisciplinary security research at Chalmers by planning a new security workshop in March 2025. In 2024, we arranged a couple of workshops to encourage collaborations between researchers from different departments at Chalmers, and we intend to hold a few more next year. In this way, we also hope to interest more researchers, including those who do not have security as their main field of research, but who come into contact with security issues in their research.
There are also thoughts of an open initiative seminar in the autumn. The goal is to strengthen research in cybersecurity and hardware security, areas that are critical for protecting everything from internet use to national infrastructure."
Tell us more about the semiconductor seminar in April
"Most of today's products contain some kind of electronics, and for the electronics you need semiconductors. In other words, semiconductor technology is crucial for the development of advanced electronic systems. A large part of the semiconductor production today takes place outside Europe, which is a problem if global supply chains are disrupted."
Chalmers' engagement in the European Chips Act
"To reduce dependency on global supply chains, it is therefore essential with local expertise that can build and design its own semiconductor and electronics systems, especially if geopolitical changes affects supply chains."
"At the EU level, there is therefore an initiative called the European Chips Act. Within the framework of this initiative, at national level, Chalmers, Lund, and KTH are collaborating to create a competence center in semiconductor technology. In connection with this work we therefore invite to an open initiative seminar, where we will focus on the need for the right expertise and how Chalmers can contribute to the European Chips Act by addressing the skills shortage through the university's educational opportunities and research. This will be done from two angles - industry and academia. The ambition is to bring together researchers, industrial partners and other stakeholders such as business leaders and politicians, to discuss and develop strategies for future research and education in semiconductor technology."
Challenges in semiconductor technology
"Thus, there are many challenges in semiconductor technology, including the availability of experimental resources and specialized software. It's expensive experimentally, and it's not obvious that you can get semiconductors manufactured. In addition, the design tools for advanced chips are dominated by major American manufacturers, which can create problems if access to these tools is limited."
"Another challenge is to increase interest among students for semiconductor technology. Therefore, the industry needs to be clear about what skills are needed, what jobs are available and what exciting challenges there are in the field to attract more students."
Workshops and seminars planned for spring 2025
- 20 March 2025:
Chalmers ICT Security Workshop
Addressed to: Security researchers and researchers interested in security aspects of their traditional research at Chalmers. Email your interest to ict@chalmers.se. - 8 April 2025:
Open initiative seminar on research and education in semiconductor technology.
Save the date! Opportunity to register will come soon.