NES - 2020 by SIT Bhubaneshwar in association with VLSI Expert Pvt. Ltd.
"Coming together is a beginning"
"Keeping together is progress"
"Working together is success"
What a fabulous event we had with more than 400 attendees and an excellent team of experts. There could not have been a better way to end this year, the event was power-packed with knowledge and awareness, the recipients had three days of non-stop guidance and insightful sessions and the whole team worked really hard to make it an effective webinar for every VLSI Enthusiast.
First and foremost, a big thank you to SIT for facilitating a 3-Day event in association with VLSI Expert Pvt. Ltd. The true essence of collaboration was witnessed through this event. We were glad that the access to the expert’s sessions, tons of technical and non-technical information, and workshops were made available to everyone for free. Collaborations like these give rise to exposure to an idealistic approach to growth, guidance to the right career option, and most importantly awareness of almost every facet of the VLSI industry.
Here are some statistics of the event -
Total number of registrations - 1600+
Day 1 - 650+ attendees on Zoom
Day 2 - 400+ attendees on zoom & 150+ on Youtube live
Day 3 - 300+ attendees & 100+ on youtube live
With utmost pride, we would like to share the highlights of each speaker's session -
Keynote speaker - Dr. Shivanand Koteshwar - Evolution and Advancement in Chipsets and opportunities for students in it (Day-1 15th Dec Morning)
Gave an excellent presentation on the Advancements in chipsets that talked about facts, current trends, and next-Gen Technology in the semiconductor industry. The talk covered the basics, fundamental blocks of SoC design, a brief history of microcontrollers, microprocessors, DSP processors, Graphical Processing Units (GPU), and Neural processing units (NPU). He encapsulated as much information as to make sure attendees get the most out of it. He explained the evolution of applications and how they impacted the market dynamics. He briefly talked about the drivers of the semiconductor industry like Big Data, IoT, AI/ML, AR/VR, and the automotive industry. He also emphasized how important it is to upskill yourself as it would further help you crack opportunities faster.
Linked in Profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/shivoo2life/
YouTube link - (we will soon publish it)
NES 2020 Workshop conducted by Steve Hoover (Day-1 15th Dec Evening) –
SIT and VLSI Expert Pvt. Ltd organized workshops to get hands-on experience. Steve Hoover, Founder of Redwood EDA, displayed sheer excellence with his extensive years of research and experience. The session provided a hands-on opportunity to learn digitally integrated circuit design using next-generation tools & methodologies. Using the makerchip.com online IDE, Steve showed a demo procedure for students to learn simple combinational circuits. The whole workshop was masterfully owned by Steve and made sure that servers are working without disruption while attendees try on their end. The session was thorough and interactive. The content was carefully decided in the spirit of time length including a hands-on learning timeline. A very well-received workshop by the attendees added an international flavor conducted by a thorough professional and an exceptional in the field of circuit design.
Linked in profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/steve-hoover-a44b607/
Youtube link - https://youtu.be/_FFmJZPz6aM?t=1541
Rohit Sharma - Principles & Applications of TinyML (Day-2 16th Dec Morning)
The founder and CEO of AITS opened the session with the introduction around Tiny ML. He insightfully started off his session by how applications of machine learning are opening new markets and opportunities in the industry. The framework, tools, and techniques, algorithms, and optimizations were effortlessly explained in a simplified manner. Rohit's session was like a breeze, he was at ease and knowledge and experience was coming across throughout. He proudly mentioned some of AITS applications that are being used by non-profitable institutions. The whole session will bring in a good amount of information about Tiny ML and the applications.
Linked in Profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/srohit0/
Youtube Link - https://youtu.be/7SkMCPWA3mI
Atul Bhargava - Present and Future of VLSI–Our contribution (Day-2 16th Dec Morning)
Atul has a very crisp voice and began by pointing out the significant contribution of the VLSI industry to the electronic industry. Atul shared an overview of where the Indian semi-conductor market stands currently (Aug 2020). The session encompassed the Technology challenges, design challenges, what are new challenges, what you need to get in the industry. He continued by briefly outlining parasitic extraction and design simulation challenges. The highlight for most of the attendees was to get some of the tips around what majorly requires to get in the industry and succeed in the industry.
Linked in profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/atul-bhargava-990b491/
Youtube Link - https://youtu.be/7SkMCPWA3mI
Walkthrough RTL2GDS using Skywater PDK & Open source tool - In NES2020 by Rajat Bansal (Day 2 -16th Dec Evening)
Rajat, a Design Engineer at KeenHeads Technologies, opened the evening with an introduction about KeenHeads, its Vision, core values, and responsibilities. He skillfully gave valid reasons as to why open-source tools can be a good option to choose for designing a circuit. He continued by demonstrating one of the flows on a design with both the automation as well as the interactive mode of tools. He also talked about the STD view, chip view at the Routing stage, and future scope in this technology.
Linked in Profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/rajat-bansal-3400009b/
Youtube link - https://youtu.be/2xF-beNHDTU
Narasayya Donepuddi – Co-founder of Sevya Multi-Media – Practical skill sets of Modern VLSI Career (Day-3 17th Dec Morning)
A very useful session for all the VLSI aspirants. Those who have missed the session can click on the link and attend the session for some insightful tips to polish skills for VLSI career. From skill and approach to profiles that are available in the VLSI industry, Narasayya was concise in listing down important pointers. Good basics in learning the technology, exercising trends per the subsequent change in the industry, discipline in ensuring and maintaining good codes, working with others help crack a good code and there are many more that Narasayya highlighted in his talk.
Linked in Profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/narasayya/
Youtube link - https://youtu.be/kTRCqkcOL1U
Puneet Mittal – A systematic approach for becoming a VLSI engineer (Day-3 17th Dec Morning)
Puneet brilliantly explained what was the Pre-pandemic trend, how candidates get influenced by the exteriors of the industry, not knowing the journey behind every accomplishment. How career options are chosen based on parents or other people’s opinions not knowing their own interests and caliber. He highlighted known challenges most candidates face while building a career. He candidly took through some real-life examples of how student’s mindsets build during their initial phase of the career and it requires a big change. He highlighted students, colleges, academician point of view, and what struggles there have been in the VLSI sector. He, later on, emphasized the post-pandemic effects on the entire VLSI sector in terms of seeking guidance, awareness, hiring, and placements. The remedies that Puneet brought light upon were highly effective as it encompasses the current scenarios, student’s approach, and ground-level issues. All in all, a highly effective session, that every attendee can vouch for.
Linked in Profile - https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/pueeetmittal/
Youtube link - https://youtu.be/kTRCqkcOL1U
This was by far the best-received webinar we have ever witnessed, and we express our gratitude for turning this event into a Mega event. We promise to keep introducing such platforms where experts from across the globe can share their expertise and bring awareness in and around the VLSI industry to create an effective community.
See you next time!!