CMC Microsystems scores $40 million from NSERC to enhance National Design Network

CMC Microsystems has received $40 million to maintain and enhance its National Design Network, (NDN) effectively renewing its core funding for the next five years beginning in FY10-11. The funding was provided to CMC through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), which has supported the organization since its inception in 1984. The award includes $33 million in direct support, $7 million to cover indirect costs and must be matched by cash and in-kind contributions for a five-year total of $78.5 million.

The NSERC award — made via a seldom used cooperative activities project grant — comes on the heels of another major win for CMC in the last major competition of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) (R$, July 29/09). The CFI awarded a Queen's Univ-led consortium $19.3 million to establish Embedded Systems Canada (emSYSCAN), a $48-million initiative making four sets of equipment available to researchers delivered through four regional centres situated across the country (R$, July 29/09).

Taken together, CMC has assembled $128 million for the period FY10-11 to FY14-15, augmented by another $40 million in value — essentially the difference in cost of services and equipment access through CMC versus full market value.

For CMC president and CEO Dr Ian McWalter, the next five years offer considerable potential for industries that utilize or consume micro- and nanotechnologies, making the work of CMC crucial in supporting the training of skilled personnel and the development of cutting-edge microsystem designs required for new devices. This includes companies whose primary business is microsystems and the larger group of firms in which microsystems comprises an import aspect of their business. Taken together, these businesses have annual revenues of $80 billion.

"I came to CMC with the objective to formulate the right kind of proposals to get resources into the sector and I'm pleased with that," says McWalter, who joined CMC in 2007. "We're getting more efficient but not as efficient as industry so there's room for improvement."

Over the next five years, CMC expects the position of information and communications technologies (ICT) as the dominant field of application will be replaced by health care as new applications rapidly emerge. The number of faculty members engaged in CMC projects is expected to increase from 750 to 1,200. Projections have been guided by extensive consultation and a series of roadmaps that will be updated on a yearly basis to ensure that its research programs continue to correlate with industry needs.

"This proposal will position Canada to be a major player in all sectors by enabling excellent, multi-disciplinary research and encouraging the fabrication of prototype microsystems which have the potential to be rapidly commercialized."

— National Design Network

Proposal to NSERC

The combination of the NDN and emSYSCAN will allow CMC to have a formidable impact on Canada's role in microsystems development and commercialization. While Queen's Univ is the lead applicant for emSYSCAN, its management is subject to a formal competition which is now underway. CMC has applied to manage the project and is the logical winner, although the selection process has been slow. "Ontario procurement rules have tightened up significantly and we follow their contract rules," says McWalter. "In the meantime, CMC will make sure that no one in the research community suffers."

In recent years, CMC has boosted commercialization as a key strategic focus although the economic turmoil of the past decade has had a dampening affect. But McWalter says microelectronics firms remain extremely active, with health care firms taking an aggressive interest in utilizing micro- and nanotechnology.

"Keep the research know-how strong and that will enable commercialization," he says. "Life sciences is gathering momentum. The speed of integration is important."

CMC's success in funding NDN closely follows the creation of the Microelectronics Innovation Centre (MIC) in Sherbrooke QC which has attracted more than $200 million in funding (R$, September 22/09). McWalter estimates that the combined funding of NDN, MIC and various provincial investments in nanotechnology are close to $500 million.

"We are a front end for this type of research (chip assembly and packaging)," he says. "It's very materials oriented and there are a lot of organizations involved."

And while each has good strategies individually, he says they could be far more effective if they worked together more closely. "Industry Canada has a role to play here. There's a sense that there has not been a lot of leadership lately in the ICT micro-nano area. There's room for the core renewal of their ICT and micro strategies because they're present across a lot of applications now."

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