Plans are afoot to raise €70 million euro in venture capital (VC) funding for start-up companies for 2011/12 through the Microelectronic Industry Design Association (MIDAS)
John Power, director general, Engineers Ireland, Paul McCloskey, senior technologist Electronics, Enterprise Ireland and John Blake, director of Power Switching Division, ON Semiconductor Ireland and also the chairman of MIDAS discussed this prospect at a MIDAS conference in Limerick.
Several microelectronics design start-ups have been recognised by the international venture community and collectively raised over €68 million in 2009 and 2010, representing about 15pc of total VC money attracted in Ireland during the period.
During that same period four start-ups were acquired by major multinationals, showing that Irish microelectronics start-ups are attracting increasing interest from significant global players, according to MIDAS.
On the 2010 EETimes ‘Hot 60’ microelectronics start-ups list, Ireland had four representatives with the highest number per capita of any country in the world.
Launched in 2001, MIDAS is a national cluster consisting of the microelectronics design companies and third level institutions in Ireland, building on the already-strong relationships between them.
It consists of 25 industry members (including multinational and Irish based start-up companies), Enterprise Ireland, IDA and academic members representing all the third level courses in Ireland that produce electronic engineering graduates and are active in microelectronics research.
