Europractice 2.0 has secured European funding for its services through September 2028. Supported by Chips JU, Europractice 2.0 will sustain and expand its trusted services that, for more than 30 years, have enabled world‑class chip design and prototyping for academia, research institutes, and their spinouts.
Established in 1995, Europractice supports more than 600 universities and research institutes across Europe each year. It offers a comprehensive suite of services for designing and manufacturing electronic circuits and smart integrated systems — including affordable access to industry‑standard design tools, fabrication technologies, training, and full technical support.
The Europractice consortium is led by imec and is comprised of UKRI‑STFC, Fraunhofer IIS, Grenoble INP‑UGA and Tyndall.
Europractice 2.0 will build on these long‑established services to address new challenges and further strengthen Europe’s semiconductor sovereignty. The programme will provide fabrication services across more than 90 technologies from a wide range of suppliers, using the cost‑sharing multi‑project wafer (MPW) principle and supported by packaging and heterogeneous integration capabilities.
Its portfolio will be continuously refreshed with advanced and next‑generation technologies, including those developed within European research centres and Chips JU pilot lines. To accelerate the design process, the project will also facilitate design IP exchange within the user community.
Addressing Europe’s semiconductor skills gap remains a core mission. Europractice 2.0 will train more than 650 participants each year, expanding its reach through a dedicated train‑the‑trainer programme. Simplified design flows and shared tapeouts for ClassIC student chips — tailored specifically for undergraduate learners — will further reduce entry barriers and broaden hands‑on learning.
Europractice 2.0 will also nurture early‑stage academic spinouts throughout their incubation phase. Close collaboration with the EU Chips Design Platform (EuroCDP) will ensure a smooth transition to acceleration and commercialisation, establishing a clear pathway from research to market and contributing to the long‑term growth and competitiveness of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem.
The Europractice 2.0 project is supported by the Chips JU and its members under grant agreement nr.101252350.
