STMicroelectronics and Politecnico di Milano, a scientific-technological university, which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers, announced today a five-year collaboration agreement in the presence of Italy’s Minister of Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti. At the heart of the agreement is the establishment of a joint research center on advanced materials for sensors (STEAM), leveraging the long-standing collaboration between ST and Politecnico. The joint research center has been created to give professors, researchers, and PhDs a unique opportunity in Italy, namely all the means to conceive, design and develop MEMS technology and to create new MEMS products.

The agreement will allow the Politecnico di Milano to become even more attractive for talented academics, offering multiple doctoral scholarships and positions for professors and researchers in four areas of common interest and in the related materials sector. The expansion of the existing collaboration will allow the further development of the center of excellence dedicated to cutting-edge sensors in Lombardy.

ST is a world leader in MEMS and advanced sensors, with over 15 billion MEMS sold to date. The core of its global MEMS R&D operations is in Lombardy, close to Milan. The agreement will also contribute to fuel ST’s research and development roadmap in advanced sensors, MEMS and analog as the teams investigate, develop an understanding of, and develop technologies and skills to future business needs in areas including advanced MEMS, motion control, power electronics, and galvanic isolation.

The agreement also provides for an infrastructure upgrade for the Politecnico di Milano, starting with the construction of a state-of-the-art 200mm pilot line in addition to the current 150mm line of the PoliFab clean room. Dedicated to the development of new MEMS technologies, the new pilot line will be used to support research projects, training, and thesis elaboration.

“The research center between Politecnico di Milano and STMicroelectronics is the result of an extraordinary joint effort on key areas such as sensors and artificial intelligence," underlined the Rector of Politecnico di Milano Ferruccio Resta. "This investment also aims at innovating for the manufacturing sector, driver of the Italian economy. The laboratory, open to companies, is part of an ambitious project to create a real innovation district in the Parco dei Gasometri in Bovisa (a neighborhood of Milan). Here a real world-class ecosystem will develop, capable of competing with the best efforts abroad. The center of excellence embodies the interaction between public and private sectors, between universities and companies. It is one of the strategic activities of the university, increasingly oriented towards the development of advanced research and the competitiveness of the territory."

“This agreement between ST and the Politecnico di Milano will be a key contributor to our MEMS and sensors research and development operations. It is a great example of what can be done within the framework of ST’s global approach to cooperative research with universities and research bodies: supporting leading technology and engineering ecosystems where ST is present, developing talent, and building the future together,” said Jean-Marc Chéry, President and CEO of STMicroelectronics. “We see significant value and opportunity in expanding our cooperation to investigate, understand, and develop technologies and skills to meet our future business needs in such areas as advanced MEMS, motion control, power electronics, and galvanic isolation.”