Work Package 1 - Market analysis and contest conception
The chip design competition "Open Chip Design Challenge Prototype" (DI-OCDCPro) aims to inspire students to engage with the forward-looking field of microchip design, introducing them to fundamental concepts as well as current industry challenges in a hands-on manner. A strong emphasis is placed on a consistent open-source approach, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative innovation.
The competition takes on the ambitious task of appealing to a broad range of students while also fostering outstanding excellence in chip design. To achieve this, the competition structure is deliberately multi-tiered: A foundational component provides an entry point for all participants, while progressively advanced specializations offer targeted, challenging tasks for experienced teams. This approach allows students with varying levels of prior knowledge to participate and develop their skills according to their individual competencies. Lower levels focus on fundamental principles of microelectronics and open-source EDA tools, whereas higher levels incorporate advanced security and optimization challenges.
This structure ensures broad participation from diverse disciplines and institutions while also motivating high-performing teams to develop innovative and complex solutions that showcase technological excellence.