DAY 1 — Academia and Industry: Building Talent, Research and Innovation
Thursday, October 1st, 2026
Opening | ||
08:30–09:00 | Opening Ceremony Ivan Armuelles, Chair IEEE LACSS 2026 Juan Pimiento, SENACYT, Panama | |
09:00–09:30 | Overview of the Semiconductor Industry Today and Opportunities for Latin America through the IEEE Open Silicon Initiative | |
Building Semiconductor Talent: National Experiences from Latin America Moderator: Fernando Guarín, IEEE | ||
09:30–09:50 | Building Panama's National Semiconductor Talent Pipeline | |
09:50–10:10 | Brazil´s Semiconductor Industry and Design House Ecosystem | |
10:10–10:30 | The Kutsari initiative and strategy for the future (virtual) | |
10:30–11:00 | Networking Coffee Break | |
Electronic Design Automation Moderator: Ricardo Reis, UFRGS, Brazil | ||
11:00–12:30 | Panel: EDA Innovation and Latin America’s Role in the Global Semiconductor Ecosystem Antonio de la Serna, Siemens EDA Victor Grimblatt, Synopsys Marcelo Da Silva, Cadence | |
12:30–14:00 | Lunch | |
Talent Development and Industrial Capabilities Moderator: Carlos Silva, PUCP, Peru | ||
14:00–14:30 | Talent: the keyword for the development of semiconductors Ricardo Reis, Institute of Informatics, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil | |
14:30–15:45 | Panel: Preparing Semiconductor Talent–Industry and University Experiences Rodrigo Jaramillo, Circuify Semiconductors, Mexico Alfredo Arnaud, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Uruguay Victor Grimblatt, Synopsys, Chile Amílcar Josué Véliz Solares, Universidad Galileo, Guatemala Javier Marte Michelen, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Dominican Republic | |
15:45–16:15 | Networking Coffee Break | |
16:15–16:45 | Assembly, Testing and Packaging: Opportunities for Latin America Joel Molina, INAOE, Mexico | |
Day 1 Wrap-up | ||
16:45–17:00 | Day 1 Wrap-Up Ivan Armuelles, Chair IEEE LACSS 2026 | |
18:00–20:00 | Welcome Reception (off-site) La Casa - Ciudad del Saber | |
DAY 2 — Government and Industry: Policy, Investment and Regional Strategy
Friday, October 2nd, 2026
08:30–08:45 | Day 2 Kick-off Start of Day 2: summary of the previous day and agenda of the day | |
Global Policy, Cooperation and Investment Moderator: Erik Heilman, IEEE-USA | ||
08:45–09:30 | Global Policy Perspectives for Semiconductor Development Filipe Silva, Semiconductors Team Lead, OECD (virtual) | |
09:30–10:00 | Pax Silica and the Global Semiconductor Ecosystem: Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean (virtual) Akhil Ramesh, PAC Forum | |
10:00–10:30 | Panama’s Semiconductor Strategy (TBC) Victor Sanchez, C-TASC AIP, Panama | |
10:30–11:00 | Networking Coffee Break | |
The Semiconductor Policy Playbook: Regulation, IP and Regional Development Moderator: TBC | ||
11:00–12:20 | Panel: Policies and Partnerships for Latin American Semiconductor Ecosystems Adão Villaverde, Brazil Mayté Milián, Guatemala Nestor García Romero, Mexico Lorena Garcia, Colombia | |
12:20–12:30 | IEEE Division I–Synopsys MoU Signing Ceremony: Semiconductor Workforce Development Victor Grimblatt, Synopsys | |
12:30–14:00 | Lunch | |
Semiconductor Design, Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship Moderator: Lorena Garcia, Alianza E, Colombia | ||
14:00–15:30 | Panel: Building Semiconductor and Hardware Businesses in Latin America Rodrigo Jaramillo, Circuify Semiconductors, Mexico Israel Mejia, QSM, Mexico (virtual) Gabriel Ortiz, Pixart, Argentina Alfonso Chacon, Rydev, Costa Rica Javier Ardila, OnSilicon, Colombia (virtual) | |
15:30–16:00 | Networking Coffee Break | |
Expanding Access to Semiconductor Design, Prototyping and Manufacturing Moderator: Joel Molina, INAOE, Mexico | ||
16:00–17:00 | Panel: Expanding Access to Semiconductor Design, Prototyping and Manufacturing Pat Deegan, Tiny Tapeout Mitchell Hsing, InchFab Alfonso Torres, INAOE (virtual) | |
FET 100 Moderator: Arokia Nathan, IEEE EDS, USA | ||
17:00–17:45 | FET100 Speakers: Fernando Guarin, Jacobus Swart. | |
17:45–18:00 | Closing - LACSS 2027 announcement Ivan Armuelles Ricardo Reis | |
18:00 | End of LACSS | |
DAY 3 — 2026 IEEE EDS/CASS MQ Semiconductors in Latin America
Saturday, October 3rd, 2026
IEEE EDS/CASS MQ Session: Exploring Innovation, Research, and Opportunities for a Semiconductor Future in the Caribbean |
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|---|---|
| 8:00–8:15 | Opening Ceremony — Registration and Welcome Remarks |
| 8:15–8:45 | Low Power Design for Sustainable Manufacturing in Agribusiness Victor Grimblatt |
| 8:45–9:15 | Embedded Timing: A New Scaling Layer for Compute at System Scale Rodrigo Calderon |
| 9:15–9:45 | Reliability Topics for Advanced Semiconductors Fernando Guarin |
| 9:45–10:15 | Physical Design Automation: From Past to Future Ricardo Reis |
| 10:15–10:45 | Networking Coffee Break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Brazil’s Semiconductor Industry and Design House Ecosystem Jacobus Swart |
| 11:15–11:45 | Oxide Electronics Arokia Nathan |
| 11:45–12:15 | Dielectrics Materials from Field Effect Transistors to In-Memory Computing Durga Misra |
| 12:15–13:30 | Lunch |
