Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) is an international research & development organization, active in the fields of nanoelectronics and digital technologies, with headquarters in Belgium. Luc Van den hove has served as President and CEO since 2009. In September 2016, imec merged with the Flemish digital research center, iMinds. Overview Imec employs around 4,000 researchers from more than 90 countries; it has numerous facilities dedicated to research and development around the world, including 12,000 square meters of cleanroom capacity for semiconductor processing. The imec headquarters are located in Leuven. History In 1982, the Flemish Government set up a program to strengthen the microelectronics industry in Flanders. This program included setting up a laboratory for advanced research in microelectronics (imec), a semiconductor foundry (former Alcatel Microelectronics, now STMicroelectronics and AMI Semiconductor,) and a training program for VLSI design engineers. The latter is now fully integrated in the imec activities. Imec was founded in 1984 as a non-profit organization led by Prof. Roger Baron Van Overstraeten. The name imec is an acronym of the original full name: Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum VZW. It is supervised by a Board of Directors, which includes delegates from industry, Flemish universities and the Flemish Government. Since 1984, imec has been led by Roger Van Overstraeten, Gilbert Declerck (as of June 1999), and Luc Van den Hove (as of July 2009). In February 2016, it was announced that imec would be merging with the Flemish digital research center, iMinds. The merge was finalized on September 21, 2016. Advanced Semiconductor Scaling Imec is well-known for its expertise in shrinking circuitry and the applicability of nanotechnology in novel industries. In 2015, The New York Times stated that imec has helped pioneer techniques to produce some of the world’s smallest and most sophisticated chips and the centre is considered to be a world-leader in nanoelectronics research. In December 2022, imec signed a cooperation agreement with new Japanese venture Rapidus for production of 2 nm process semiconductor chips. Energy Imec performs research in smart energy, ranging from developing ways to actively and cost-effectively plan, deploy and manage smart grid networks up to improving the efficiency, production and storage cost of (solar) energy. Considerable advances have been made in solar cell and solid state battery technologies. Together with KU Leuven, VITO, and UHasselt, imec set up a separate R&D hub to perform research into sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems. The project is named