CAIRO: Last week Arab News announced the agreement signed between King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Mentor Graphics, a technology leader in Electronic Design Automation (EDA). The organizations will be cooperating for the promotion and development of Electronics Design Technology in Saudi Arabia.
Elaborating on this agreement, Dr. Hazem Eltahawy, MD of Mentor Graphics’ Egypt operation said, “To support KACST in building their expertise in electronic design methodologies, Mentor Graphics will provide access to certain expertise that already exists in its branch in Egypt. Our consulting division will also provide its knowledge and experience to selected teams at KACST and will cooperate on research in advanced technology areas with KACST and local universities.”
Electronic Design Automation (EDA) is a group of software tools that electronics designers use to help create hardware components. Historically speaking, EDA grew out of the general category of computer aided design (CAD). EDA aids the designer of electronic systems in creating the desired digital technology in an automated, more effective fashion, ensuring compliance with established industry standards and fabrication requirements.
Mentor Graphics is one of the leaders in the EDA arena. While the company is headquartered in the US, its product development receives input from worldwide talents. Mentor Graphics has had ongoing R&D in Egypt for approximately 15 years.
According to Eltahawy, Mentor Graphics has long had a goal of helping in the transfer of technology knowledge in the Arab region. “In Egypt, Mentor Graphics has already established cooperation with the government, universities and research institutes,” he remarked. “The aim now is to grow the knowledge transfer even further in the Arab world. This will help us to develop more skilled engineers and create advanced companies using EDA tools. Of course that will support more progress and success for our business.”
Eltahawy and his team are now actively seeking out governments and specialized organizations in the Arab World who are interested in technology transfer and development. Mentor Graphics has noted that in the last few years, the government of Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in technology and initial talks with KACST revealed a substantial interest in EDA technology.
“We hope by starting this initial cooperation with KACST, that eventually the skilled engineering talent in the Kingdom will grow to the point that advanced microelectronic design centers will be created at universities,” said Eltahawy. “With time this should lead to entrepreneurial incubators and eventually small and medium enterprises that have EDA at the heart of their operations.”
While it is true that the Middle East is not known for its activities in the electronics field, Eltahawy advised that the time has come to take advantage of the new industries that can be developed thanks to continuing investment in education. Although Asia has been promoted in recent years for its fabrication activities, many electronics design centers have remained in Europe and the US.
“The design itself is where most of the knowledge is required and where most of the value remains,” said Eltahawy. “The most important thing in designing is the brainware. This means the talented engineer. So in general, there are now many countries in the Arab Region such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisa who have invested in educating young people to become engineers. Now is the time to capitalize on the opportunity created by the availability of these skilled human resources and establish advanced electronic design centers in the region, with the aim of growing our economies in new directions.”
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