Indian Institute Gets Charles Babbage Grant from Synopsys

Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, has announced that the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKGP) is the first institution of higher education in India to receive the Charles Babbage Grant from Synopsys. Through the grant, IITKGP receives licenses of Synopsys' comprehensive electronic design automation (EDA) software and intellectual property. The grant also enables the Institute to purchase compute hardware for the planned Synopsys CAD Laboratory at IITKGP, which would focus exclusively on core EDA and CAD research. Although details are yet to be finalized, additional funding provided by Synopsys is planned to assist with the operational costs of the lab as Synopsys and IITKGP faculty collaborate on joint research goals and establish milestones to further expand VLSI education at the Institute. Synopsys also intends to provide support and training to the students working at the Synopsys CAD Laboratory to help them maximize their research efforts. IIT Kharagpur and Synopsys have had strong and enriching research collaborations, especially related to verification methodologies, for close to a decade and a half. The two organizations have taken leading steps in fostering state-of-the-art education and research in the domain of VLSI and EDA. Synopsys was a co-founder in the Advanced VLSI (AVLSI) Design Laboratory at IIT Kharagpur and subsequently in the AVLSI Consortium, both being the first of their kind in India. The establishment of the Synopsys CAD Laboratory at IIT Kharagpur would further expand the collaboration between Synopsys and IIT Kharagpur, and extend the focus of their advanced and industry-relevant education and research beyond verification to other areas of core EDA.