We closed out 2024 in style on Tuesday with another SiliconCatalyst.UK Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing of semiconductor startups event, hosted in the recently refurbished Renold Building at the The University of Manchester.
In the first keynote Prof Richard Curry gave us whirlwind tour through a small selection of the semiconductor research being done in Manchester, from ultra-pure 28Si spheres through to the UoM contribution to the Large Hadron Collider by way of the amazing SpiNNaker project, there is no doubt that there is semiconductor depth and breadth in the university base.
Next up was the deeply impressive Stan Boland, with a presentation that actually is more akin to a thesis, analysing the relative successes of the European and US semiconductor industries and what we need to do to turn things around, deeply thought provoking, it drove many conversations for the rest of the day.
Things didn't let up, we were honoured to have a panel session with three Arm founders John Biggs, Pete Harrod and Jamie Urquhart, discussing the importance of the global ecosystem. A great opportunity for our cohort companies to hear from those who have been through the startup process and taken it all the way. Truly inspirational.
Great startups are built with great teams, without a great team nothing happens, but it's hard for startups. In the semiconductor space the founders frequently have a deep technical background and take on the role of CEO, but when is the right time for those founders to step aside and let someone else take the reigns, or indeed should they? Anne-Sofie Lagander tackled these issues head on in a compelling and frank discussion of how to develop teams in tech.
After a short break we heard from Joseph Wilson from Optalysys describing the challenges of crossing the TRL chasm and how Optalysys has done that. It really brings home just what a long journey there is between the lab concept and deploying product at scale in the market. Wonderful to see the amazing technology that Optalysys have and the progress they are making.
After all of this inspiration, it was time for our 10 ChipStart UK cohort companies to get up on stage and present their 5 minute/3 slide pitch. We heard pitches from Qontrol Ltd., PhovIR Technologies, Chevin Technology, Visionchip, KuasaSemi Ltd, Apitronix Semiconductor, Metahelios ltd, Heronic Technologies and Nanomation.
Having heard the pitches, it was appropriate that the next person on stage was Gareth Llewellyn of Northern Gritstone , who gave a brief overview of Northern Gritstone and then moved in to solid advice for startups looking to raise. It is invaluable for any startup to see the funding process through the eyes of a VC.
And finally, but very definitely by no means least, Malcolm Penn of Future Horizons Malcolm presented on the topic of "How geopolitics are shaping the global semiconductor industry", with decades of industry analysis and experience Malcolm really brings the harsh light of reality to bear.
A truly wonderful day, that was rounded off by a drinks reception featuring Castello Redmond, which had managed to make it's way to Manchester even though Sean Redmond was unable to attend.
As always, these events are the sum of the efforts of many people, so huge thanks must go to all of our speakers, our sponsors for the event (Arm, Cadence, IC Resources, Siemens and Synopsys Inc) and of course our hosts the The University of Manchester, the team at the University of Manchester Innovation Factory (Gareth Jones) and the superb team at the Renold Building that "just made stuff happen" all day.
Thank you to all that attended and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2025.
