The Albany Business Review
Justin Dawes
Jul 11, 2022
A semiconductor industry veteran is leading a new organization focused on workforce training and economic development in the Capital Region.
LaMar Hill is the executive director of NYDesign, a nonprofit focused on elevating the integrated circuit design field in the region.
Hill has worked in the tech and nanotech industries for three decades, including in the Capital Region since 1988. As he learned more about the design field and who the players are, he said it became obvious that more focus on the field is necessary in the Capital Region and beyond.
Basically, every product that uses electricity has some type of custom integrated circuit, he said, so designers are an important part of the industry.
“In fact, you could make the case that almost half of the added value of integrated circuits is the design,” he said. “It touches our daily lives practically every minute.”
Hill worked as the director of business development for the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering from 1997 to 2005. He has been contracted by the Center for Economic Growth and economic development organization Mohawk Valley EDGE.
Among his contributions, Hill says he was very involved in bringing Wolfspeed and GlobalFoundries to the area. He said he was also instrumental in bringing on Doug Grose as CEO of NY CREATES and David Anderson as his successor.
There’s currently a shortage of at least 20,000 design workers in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands globally, he said.
The educational portion of the nonprofit is focused on enhancing the education of college students and also introducing the field to high school students.
“I’ve learned, especially with the semiconductor and advanced electronics industry, talent is their No. 1 resource,” he said. “I think that's one of the primary reasons we've been successful in reigniting our advanced electronics cluster here in New York is because we generate talent. And yet, we still aren't getting enough American kids going into STEM fields, so we have to up our game.”
Part of the efforts of the nonprofit will include working to attract design centers to the Capital Region, which could employ anywhere from one to 1,000 people each. Employees in that industry can start with salaries greater than $150,000, he said.
The nonprofit is also supporting development efforts at universities and early-stage companies. So far, one of those companies is Rewire Energy, which works with clients on sustainable energy initiatives.
NYDesign has support from state-funded nonprofit tech consulting firm NYSTEC and the Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency. About two-thirds of the $700,000 raised from its two supporting agencies will go toward workforce development. About one-third will go toward economic development efforts.
NYSTEC President Kevin Owens and Rensselaer County IDA President Robert Pasinella are serving as co-founding members on the NYDesign board.
The organization began in early July by hosting chip design workshops in Troy and Rome, New York. The nonprofit is partnering with Efabless, a California-based company whose open-source software platform enables students to design and create their own chips.
Participants included faculty and students from Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Mohawk Valley Community College, The Cooper Union and more.
https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2022/07/10/nydesign-semicondutors-lamar-hill.html