IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1514429
IPC COMMUNITY 86 WINTER 2024 North America By Brian Knier Vice President, Marketing, Member Success, and Sales The final quarter of 2023 was exceptionally productive for the North American govern- ment relations and education offices. Amid National Apprenticeship Week, Nov. 13-19, IPC was recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor for our National Program Standards of Apprenticeship. IPC has long worked to raise the profile of apprenticeship as a clear path to career development as well as a strategy for bridging the skills gap in the electronics man- ufacturing industry. The IPC National Program Standards of Apprenticeship is the first in the electronics industry to be approved on the federal level, recognizing our industry's need for more skilled workers and IPC's leadership in workforce training. IPC is now authorized to register with each state's Eligible Training Provider List, meaning companies can begin implementing apprenticeship programs that meet national standards and are eligible for public funding support. In the final week of November, IPC wel- comed the actions outlined by the U.S. gov- ernment "to strengthen supply chains critical to America's economic and national security." The COVID-era disruptions experienced by the U.S. electronics manufacturing industry spotlighted the extent to which the United States has outsourced its industrial base, impacting everything from automobiles to aircraft to consumer products. The invest- ments being made under the CHIPS and Sci- ence Act, Defense Production Act, and Infla- tion Reduction Act must cover more than just a few key products such as semiconductors— they also need to include the full electronics manufacturing system that enables semicon- ductor chips to function, including printed circuit boards (PCBs) and integrated circuits (IC) substrates. The U.S. Partnership for Assured Electron- ics (USPAE) collaborated with the Department of Defense's (DoD) Manufacturing Capability Expansion & Investment Prioritization Direc- torate (MCEIP) to host the Defense Business Accelerator (DBX) Microelectronics Chal- lenge, an opportunity for advanced technol- ogy innovators to vie for funding of up to $2 million each to further commercialize their emerging technologies. The challenge aims to revolutionize how the DoD drives the devel- opment of dual-use technology, which can be used for both civilian and military applica- tions. Seven microelectronics firms received nearly $10 million in combined funding to commercialize technologies of interest to the U.S. military services. For more information on these initiatives, visit the IPC news page. Q4 REGIONAL UPDATES IPC Around the World