FINMINA: A French National Project Dedicated to Educational Innovation in Microelectronics to Meet the Challenges of a Digital Society

Abstract

The national network for coordinating training in microelectronics and nanotechnologies, which brings together 12 joint microelectronics centers and the French professional union in this field, successfully responded in 2011 to the call for proposals for an innovative training excellence initiative. It thus piloted an eight-year project entitled “Innovative training in microelectronics and nanotechnologies (FINMINA),” which aims to meet the challenges of a digital society. This project deals with microelectronics in the broadest sense, providing future players with the know-how capable of improving the connection capacities of the Internet of Things and extending the fields of application, while drastically limiting energy consumption. To these ends, the project aimed to:—promote scientific and pedagogical innovation in order to provide users with skills and know-how,—broaden the spectrum of skills to include multidisciplinarity,—attract more young people to scientific careers,—create a national portal for lifelong learning,—encourage cross-fertilization of actors through dissemination actions. After 8 years, 90 innovative platforms dedicated to training in know-how adapted to the issues at stake have been set up in the 12 centers. This paper details the organization of the project, its innovative pedagogical aspects, and its main results and gives examples of achievements oriented toward societal challenges.