News Article
Beacon of excellence
The Institute for System Level Integration (iSLI), was pleased to host its 3rd Annual Influencers Dinner for prominent representatives from the UK microelectronics industry, academia and government bodies.
The event marked the 10th Anniversary of the Institute and took place at The Royal Scot’s Club in Edinburgh. Guests included senior members of the scientific, academic and industrial communities and the guest of honour for the evening was Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
The central theme for discussion was the contribution that educational institutions such as iSLI make to the UK economy in providing engineering pools of talent, capable of servicing industry requirements. In particular, speakers stressed the importance of maintaining skills based education for engineers to ensure world class expertise is available in the UK.
In her speech at the beginning of the evening, Fiona Hyslop stated that iSLI’s work corresponds to the Scottish government’s strategic outcomes: “Smarter and Wealthier and Fairer”. She indicated that this was because iSLI represented “a superb example of collaboration, both across universities and between universities and industry, but mainly because of its emphasis on people and skills”. Fiona brought into focus the many changes that have taken place in the electronics industry over the past decade, with particular emphasis on the movement away from mass production to systems level design and specialist engineering.
Speaking at the event, Tony Harker CEO at iSLI commented, “I am immensely proud of what we and our partners have achieved over the past decade. Scotland’s groundbreaking perception of the national need 10 years ago resulted in the formation of iSLI to address a specific market. Since then the electronics market has changed significantly and iSLI has adapted to meet this change very effectively. The long term, visionary support we receive from our partner Universities and Scottish Enterprise is fundamental in maintaining this success and I look forward eagerly to the next 10 years.”
Fiona concluded her speech by congratulating iSLI on reaching their 10th Anniversary, and wishing the institute “every success for the future” in maintaining its position as “a beacon of excellence for Scotland”.
