DET-IT

The DET-IT (Design Engineering Taskforce – IC Toolchain) project aims to establish a secure, scalable, and cloud-based Design Enablement Team (DET) to support European fabless companies (particularly start-ups and SMEs) in designing integrated circuits (ICs) based on mature technology nodes. Aligned with the Chips for Europe Initiative, DET-IT will serve as a regional and sectoral hub, offering comprehensive end-to-end IC design support. This support includes access to EDA tools, IPs, and PDKs, as well as engineering assistance and streamlined access to foundries and packaging services. DET-IT will deploy and maintain a containerized Secure Data Center Infrastructure (SDCI), integrated with the European Design Platform via Infrastructure as Code (IaC) standards provided by the Platform Coordination Team. The infrastructure will enable full-cycle design (from modeling to tape-out), supporting digital, analog, and mixed-signal flows. The platform targets application categories of strategic relevance for Europe, including power electronics, industrial and robotics control, sensor data acquisition and IoT, automotive electronics, and defense and aerospace systems. These sectors demand robust, low-power, cost-efficient ICs, ideally suited to mature-node CMOS, BCD, and Bipolar technologies. DET-IT addresses key barriers to semiconductor innovation by providing affordable access to design tools and expert support, thereby accelerating development for low-volume and prototyping projects that are often excluded from traditional flows. The consortium (composed of leading Italian industrial and academic partners) offers strong expertise in design methodologies, secure infrastructure, and application-specific engineering. By enabling chip design in high-impact sectors, DET-IT strengthens Europe’s digital innovation capacity and competitiveness, lowers entry barriers, and actively supports the EU’s strategic goal of semiconductor sovereignty.