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162 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2024 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE 3. Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) Industry Day: The U.S. Execu- tive Agent (EA) for Printed Circuit and Interconnect Technology held its annual defense supplier roundtable, but this year also featured the DIBC Industry Day for Advanced Printed Circuit Boards and Electronic Substrates. The DIBC is a new mechanism created by the U.S. Defense Department to bolster the Defense Industrial Base. Just last month, the DIBC released a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for electronics projects. 4. IPC government engagement: As part of a special new program at APEX EXPO, IPC hosted a policy roundtable discus- sion with two federal and three California state officials. The roundtable included some of our industry's smartest voices: Summit Interconnect's John Vaughn, Out of the Box Manufacturing's Allison Bud- varson, and Uyemura's Anthony Revier. Following the roundtable, the govern- ment officials received a tour of the exhi- bition floor from IPC Chief Technology Officer Matt Kelly, and they met execu- tives of local companies. 5. Technical Conference: IPC's Matt Kelly, Chris Jorgensen, and Julia Flynn built another powerhouse Technical Confer- ence centered around PCB design and fabrication, the Factory of the Future, reliability, and sustainability. The Techni- cal Conference serves as a knowledge hub, empowering professionals to stay at the forefront of technological evolu- tion in the electronics industry. This year stands out for the impressive number of well-produced technical papers received. Kudos to those who won best paper awards. 6. Sustainability: The importance of sus- tainability was reflected across APEX EXPO again this year. Sustainability was prominent in the Technical Confer- ence, many standards committee meet- ings, and on the show floor, where exhibitors touted their company-specific approaches to building electronics in a cleaner, greener way. IPC Lead Sustain- ability Strategist Kelly Scanlon was omni- present, highlighting IPC's sustainability initiative and four projects slated for this year. Reach out to Kelly to get involved in this exciting initiative. 7. Workforce development: Cory Blay- lock, Victoria Hawkins, and Carlos Plaza of IPC's education team held multiple events to highlight IPC's new appren- ticeship programs and offer support to industry executives in tapping govern- ment funding to launch apprenticeship programs in their own companies. IPC's new apprenticeship programs are just one piece of a larger collaboration with industry to develop better-defined