An International Forum for Microelectronics: ITIV Organizes IEEE SOCC 2026 in Heidelberg

How will future chips be developed? What role does artificial intelligence play in the design of complex hardware systems? And how can high-performance platforms be built for the data-intensive applications of tomorrow? Experts from academia and industry addressed these and other questions at the 39th IEEE International System-on-Chip Conference (SOCC 2026), which took place in Heidelberg in early October.

The ITIV played a key role in shaping the international conference, both organizationally and scientifically. Dr. Tanja Harbaum served as General Chair of the event, while Prof. Dr. Jürgen Becker, as Industrial Chair, was responsible for the industry program and actively fostered dialogue between research and industry.

Highlights of the program included keynote speeches by Dr. Matthias Traub (Vector Informatik), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulf Schlichtmann (Technical University of Munich), Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fettweis (TU Dresden and Barkhausen Institute), and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ecker (Infineon Technologies). The presentations highlighted current developments in the areas of software-defined systems, modern system-on-chip platforms, and the use of artificial intelligence in chip design. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Becker moderated the keynote speeches by Dr. Matthias Traub and Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fettweis, while Dr. Tanja Harbaum moderated the keynote speech by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulf Schlichtmann.

The ITIV was also strongly represented in the scientific program. Researchers from the institute presented papers on RISC-V-based multicore systems, hardware accelerators for deep learning and transformer applications, hardware security, data flow analysis for high-throughput systems, neuromorphic computing, and AI-enabled hardware and system architectures. Several of these works were developed in collaboration with international partners from research and industry and highlight the institute’s broad research activities in cutting-edge fields of microelectronics.

In addition to the technical sessions, the conference offered a wide range of opportunities for professional exchange and for establishing new collaborations. A particular highlight was the conference dinner at the historic Heidelberg Castle, which provided international guests with an impressive setting for networking and scientific dialogue.

Through its involvement in the organization, industry program, and research, the ITIV made a significant contribution to the success of SOCC 2026 while simultaneously strengthening its international visibility within the global system-on-chip and microelectronics community.