EnSilica, the Wokingham IC design house, is moving into
intellectual property (IP) development on the ARM business model
and has joined up with the multi-university SETsquared
semiconductor start-up support project.
 |
|
| Ian Lankshear |
|
"We've been a design services company since 2001, but we're looking
to complement our design activity with becoming an IP developer",
Ian Lankshear, managing director of Ensilica, told
Electronics
Weekly.
The firm has joined the project to gain exposure to business and
marketing skills and contacts.
"We're a company of engineers," said Lankshear, "management and
market insight is what is important to us. Joining a community like
SETsquared means we get a mentor assigned to the company acting as
a regular review board for two to three days a week."
"We're starting to get a lively community there," said Simon
Bond, acting director of the Swindon and Bath innovation centres.
The Swindon centre is now two thirds full.
Lankshear declined to comment on what market the firm was to
target with its IP.
SETsquared, backed by the universities of Southampton, Surrey,
Bath and Bristol, provides chip start-ups with leading-edge EDA
tools, workstations, office facilities, advice on fundraising,
introductions to investors and marketing help for a fee of
£100 a month.
"Access to design tools is less important than access to the
networking capabilities and the mentoring skills," said
Lankshear.
www.ensilica.com