Initiative will allow the integration, standardization and availability of data from semiconductor devices for commercialization in a data marketplace environment
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) announces the launch of the “Integration and Interoperability Environment” project, or AI2 Platform, initiative that will be carried out by the von Braun Advanced Research Center and the Softex Campinas Center (NSC) under the coordination of Softex.
The project aims to develop and operate – in pilot format – an integration and interoperability environment capable of integrating and standardizing data from semiconductor devices to collect logistical, authentication and traceability information at all stages of the logistics chain, enabling the development of applications for multiple sectors of the economy and encouraging the creation of new solutions and companies, especially startups.
“This is an initiative that reinforces the Ministry's concern in providing Brazilian industry with development support mechanisms and platforms that provide productivity gains, and consequently translate into gains in efficiency in development processes and methodologies that ensure the country's much-needed efficiency in a global scenario characterized by extreme competitiveness”, comments Hamilton José Mendes da Silva, Director of Incentives for Digital Technologies at MCTI.
The integrated and standardized data will be made available to the market through the AI2 Platform in the model “Semiconductor as a Service”. “This term, coined by the von Braun Institute, defines an innovative model that enables the commercialization of semiconductor chips as a service and seeks to overcome significant challenges in this industry, allowing the offering – as a service – of solutions, designs and manufacturing processes associated with semiconductors, in a marketplace environment for data tracked by blockchain technology”, informs Dario Sassi Thober, President of the von Braun Advanced Research Center.
The viability of the concept “Semiconductor as a Service” will be demonstrated through commercial applications that will be executed on the AI2 Platform, serving different sectors of the economy, promoting the conception and development of new business models and the commercialization of semiconductors. “This will enable the development of applications for sectors that require the integration of information throughout the entire life cycle of a product, for example, the tracking and authentication of various items throughout the logistics chain, from production to delivery to the end customer”, details Edvar Pera Junior, executive director of Núcleo Softex Campinas.
The initiative will also make it possible to integrate different information networks for the production, distribution and marketing of products and services from hitherto isolated sectors of the economy, which will now use data transit infrastructure between them through the AI2 Platform. The activities developed during the project will enable the creation of new companies, especially startups, and solutions with innovative characteristics for the semiconductor market.
Among the different differences present in the AI2 Platform are:
- The commissioning of new semiconductors (created for specific applications) and the use of data from existing semiconductors (as well as their information network) as long as the minimum security criteria required by the platform are met, as well as the Business Model of operation, which will be developed during the execution of the project.
- Customization to accept data from different devices and heterogeneous information networks (formed by gateways and edge devices)
- Offering secure integration mechanisms between systems, whether private or governmental.
- Guarantee of non-repudiation of information through security mechanisms, in addition to ensuring the integrity of information through the use of smart contracts or recording information on blockchain networks.
In addition to semiconductor chips that can be embedded, other semiconductor devices that are already part of products or service networks may also be connected to an environment that integrates and makes information compatible in a standardized way, through a language that abstracts and makes information compatible for a wide spectrum of applications.
For Diônes Lima, executive vice-president of Softex, “our coordination work in an initiative the size of the AI2 Platform is of the utmost importance, which is aligned with the country's strategy of gaining autonomy in vital areas of the economy, as is the case of the semiconductor segment”. He also remembers that the model “Semiconductors as a Service” offers relevant benefits for sectors and organizations that demand integrated logistics throughout the entire product life cycle.
In the case of Brazil, in particular, the viability of the “Semiconductor as a Service”, through the AI2 platform, it will allow designs, solutions and even manufacturing processes associated with semiconductors to be offered to the market in a different way, starting to be sold in the form of services in a marketplace environment for data tracked by blockchain-type technology, which can, in this way, be offered for the value of the information (aggregated AI data) that they are capable of generating, remunerating the entire chain, from semiconductor designers and manufacturers, through data capture infrastructure owners and up to application developers.
Strategic for the national economy and the country's technological development, the semiconductor sector, according to data from the Brazilian Semiconductor Industry Association (ABISEMI), earns more than R$ 3 billion per year, generates more than 2,500 qualified jobs and invests more than US$ 100 million in RD&I activities.
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