On Thursday 24 September, the Semicon Learning Centre (SLC) will officially open its doors. At this centre, the education sector, the research community and the business world are working together towards a single goal: training new technical talent for the regional microchip sector. This collaboration is unique in the Netherlands in this form. The official launch will take place at REMO in Rijssen.

Visitors will be given a guided tour of REMO’s Semicon Learning Centre and will have the opportunity to meet one another during the networking drinks reception. The opening is open to the public: anyone interested is welcome. You can register until 10 September via https://www.remo-techniek.nl/aanmelding-lancering-slc/.

About the SLC

The SLC connects six locations in Twente. At each location, vocational (MBO), higher vocational (HBO) and university (WO) institutions work together with companies from the ASML supply chain to train students, career changers and professionals. Each location focuses on its own link in the chain. Together, they form a single entity. The ambition is to add a central experience centre to act as a connecting hub.

Nowhere else in the Netherlands do education and chip companies come together in this way. Students do not just learn from a book, but contribute to the technology behind the microchip, from research and design to the components the sector requires. Companies bring their challenges directly into the educational programme. In this way, the curriculum aligns seamlessly with the sector’s needs.

Each partner has its own specialism

• University of Twente — advanced chip technology. With an educational cleanroom and courses in chip design, chip processing and characterisation.
• Saxion — chip testing and packaging. With practice-oriented field labs where education, research and industry collaborate.
• Vocational education (MBO) and its specialist colleges — practical experience within easy reach. Hybrid learning environments, cleanroom training, Smart Technology & AI, and modular semiconductor courses. SMEOT provides the manufacturing base (construction, sheet metal work, welding), REMO focuses on mechatronics and cleanrooms, Process your Future on process technology, and STODT and ROC van Twente on precision technology and engineering.

The SLC is one of the key organisations behind the Twente Microchip Talent Strengthening Plan, which bolsters the regional talent pipeline for the semiconductor industry. And this is sorely needed: by 2030, companies in the ASML supply chain in Twente are estimated to require an additional 4,500 skilled workers. The ambition goes further: Twente aims to become a leading ChipTech region in Europe.