IMEC creates 2 000 jobs in Flanders

Luc Van den hove, CEO of the Louvain Research Centre for nanotechnology IMEC, and Flemish Innovation Minister Ingrid Lieten SP.A announced yesterday that the centre plans to invest 1 billion euros in new-generation chip technology in the next five years. This announcement was made at a seminary in Tokyo during the country’s current trade mission to Japan. The government of Flanders will release 100 million euros to finance new laboratories and equipment, with the remainder coming from international technology industries and from Europe. “It is essential that we retain our global lead in this field,” IMEC commented. IMEC, with its 2 000 employees, is the world’s biggest research centre in the field of nanotechnology, a discipline that continually seeks out smaller and more powerful microchips. The ten biggest chip industries have concluded collaborative agreements with IMEC and rely on the centre for cutting-edge research.
“When people think of chips they immediately think of IT, computers and smart phones, but that’s only the beginning,” says Van den hove. The future lies in medical applications. “With the latest technology patches are used to constantly register the heart’s rhythm and forward the data for checkups with wireless technology, and soon it may even be possible to use sensors for the early detection of cancer cells in blood samples,” he explains. “The investment will result in an additional 500 jobs during the next few years, with a possible 1 500 indirect jobs created as a result,” he adds. During the past years numerous top players in this field have established a base near IMEC; among them Panasonic, which opened a centre for research and development on the Louvain university campus. Similarly the Dutch ASML, a high-tech manufacturer of machines used to produce chips, and the Japanese Kaneka have established offices in Flanders. It is expected that the 500 new jobs will represent both academic and technical staff such as operators and maintenance technicians. “We maintain an international recruitment policy,” says Van den hove. “You often hear people complain about a brain drain. I believe one should rather talk of a brain magnet in our case.”