IT lobby swallows microelectronics association, creates semiconductor council

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) has taken over the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium (SMC) in a move both groups say will improve their chances of winning funding critical to increasing the number of university engineering professors. In the past, the two groups have lobbied the federal government separately to get funding they needed. Those efforts, however, have yet to yield significant results. About two years ago, the SMC was shooting for a line mention of $250 million in the following year’s federal budget. That short campaign, however, was unsuccessful. According to the merger agreement, the SMC will be folded into ITAC as of Jan. 1, 2002. That group will then form a Strategic Microelectronics Council to voice the industry’s views and concerns within the ITAC hierarchy. The microelectronics voice on ITAC’s board of directors will increase from one to four as part of the deal, which is expected to be finalized by April 2002. The two associations have been part of the eMPOWR Canada initiative launched last year to try and get more money for university professors (RoW, Oct. 2/00 & April 17/01). "This experience led us to the conclusion that we could benefit from the influence of a larger, horizontal organization," SMC board member Nick Deeble said during a conference call. "We felt, on a campaign of this importance and magnitude, we could benefit from the amplification that a larger organization could give to our concerns." As a result of the union of ITAC and SMC, ITAC’s semiconductor membership will grow from three members to 46, with all of the SMC’s members expected to join the new association. The IT lobby, in partnership with provincial organizations, has a membership that exceeds 1,300 information technology companies across Canada. Representatives from both groups say that a larger association – acting on behalf of all players in concert – will make it easier for it to convince the government of the critical need for funding to triple the ranks of university engineering professors across Canada. They also hope that the tripling of professors will in turn triple the number of graduates. Lowering expectations may help land federal funding The eMPOWR Canada initiative says it needs about $600 million over five years to achieve its goals (RoW, Oct. 2/00). This year, however, the group has lowered the amount of funding it is seeking in recognition of growing concerns over national security and the need to spend more on protective measures. Under its revised plan, eMPOWR will seek two-thirds of its needs, or about $360 million over five years as a stopgap measure. "(The group) cut a third out of the overall request and said that in the current December budget, we’re hoping to get enough funding to double the number of professors and thereby the number of students," said Gaylen Duncan, president of ITAC. "The mountain we’re facing now is how much money is there in the total federal till and how many demands are there for that money and where do we rank in priority," Duncan stated. The microelectronics industry has changed its tune of late in its desire to land a major chip manufacturing facility and is now less interested in winning such an operation. Two years ago, the group tried in vain to convince Mosel Vitelic to set up shop in Canada. Montreal was on the short list, but the company pulled its plans in the wake of a floundering chip sector. "The battle we were fighting 10 years ago in the microelectronics industry was how to get some manufacturing," SMC vice chair Tony Standsby said. "That’s not the issue anymore. The issue is how many designer brains do we have."

IT lobby swallows microelectronics association, creates semiconductor council

News | 11/27/2001 5:00 am EST

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