Leuven, 28th April 2003 – IMEC announced its 2002 results at its General Assembly held last Friday. Despite the weak economical situation and the severe downturn of the semiconductor industry, probably the worst 2 years in its history, IMEC managed to increase its contract income with 15 %. IMEC achieved good results thanks to its unique business model for cooperative research, in which costs, talent, risks and intellectual properties are shared. 

In 2002, IMEC’s contract revenue rose by more than 15% to nearly 105 million euros. Today, IMEC generates 76% of its total budget (138 million euro), the remaining 24% being funded by the Flemish Government. In 2002, IMEC signed a new frameagreement with the Flemish Government for a period of 5 years.  The international contract revenues  increased in 2002 by 25.5% to 50.2 million euros or 48.55% of IMEC’s contract generated revenue.  

In 2002, IMEC had some hundred contracts with businesses in the Flemish region, and an important contribution was made by SMEs, accounting for 75% of IMEC’s partnerships in Flanders. The relative share of the revenue from Flanders remains high, alongside IMEC’s strong international growth.  

Last year, IMEC continued to build its technology portfolio with its own intellectual property rights as a basis for cooperation with industrial partners. The scientific results are reflected amongst others in the strong growth of the number of patents filed (43) and the more than 1,150 scientific publications and conference proceedings. More than half of this has been realised in collaboration with Flemish universities.   

IMEC’s number of employees expanded to 1263 in 2002, including some 360 guest researchers and industrial residents. IMEC’s researchers work on the various technological challenges together with international businesses on the basis of IMEC’s unique business model, in which costs, talent, risks, knowledge and therefore also intellectual property are shared. This business model has proved successful over the past few years. Businesses must indeed keep investing in research, even in times of economic uncertainty, in order to be able to bring new products on to the market. The costs of research in the semiconductor sector continue to rise and the technological challenges increase. By working together on research, businesses can find profitable solutions to problems.  

Globally, IMEC has strengthened its position, in part due to an intensification of its efforts on the Japanese market. These efforts have led to some important new contracts with Japanese businesses, including Matsushita. On the European and American markets, IMEC’s leading position as a ‘centre of excellence’ in a number of research areas has been consolidated.
 

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About IMEC

IMEC was founded in 1984 and today is Europe's largest independent research center in the field of microelectronics, nanotechnology, enabling design methods and technologies for ICT systems. IMEC's activities concentrate on the design technology for integrated information and communication systems; silicon process steps and modules, silicon processes; nanotechnology, microsystems, components and packaging; solar cells; and advanced training in microelectronics. IMEC is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has a staff of more than 1250 people including over 380 industrial residents and guest researchers. Its revenue of more than 130Meuro is derived from agreements and contracts with the Flemish government and companies, equipment and material suppliers and semiconductor and system-oriented companies worldwide, the EC, MEDEA+ and ESA. News from IMEC is located at www.imec.be