Carmelo Papa Appointed as New Chairman of EPoSS, European Technology Platform for Smart Systems Integration

GENEVA, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announced that Carmelo Papa, Executive Vice President and General Manager of ST's Industrial and Multisegment Sector, has been appointed Chairman of EPoSS (European Platform on Smart Systems) at the EPoSS General Assembly and Annual Forum, which was held last week on October 7-8, 2010, at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon, Portugal.

Papa will continue in his role at ST, which includes overall responsibility for developing a wide range of products including MEMS sensors, power and analog chips, microcontrollers, application-specific non-volatile memories and smart card ICs. Papa replaces Klaus Schymanietz, Chief Technical Officer of Defence and Security Systems, EADS Germany, who has held the position of Chairman of EPoSS for the past five years, and will head up the 'High Level Group' within EPoSS, which guides the overall strategic development of the organization's technology platform.

In his introductory speech at the EPoSS Forum, Papa presented the organization's vision for a European platform, including technologies such as analog/RF, passive devices, high-voltage power devices, sensors and actuators, and bio-chips, which are all essential to the development of EPoSS' wide-ranging R&D cooperation.

"Companies working on their own will find it difficult and expensive to achieve competitive results," said Carmelo Papa, Chairman of EPoSS. "R&D cooperation is vital in Europe and it needs to include large industrial partners, research organizations, small-to-medium enterprises and academia, all complemented and supported by strong relationships with national authorities and the EU."

"In the future, the boundaries of electronics technology will become increasingly blurred among semiconductor devices, packaging and system technologies," continued Papa. "For instance, it will no longer be possible for package design to be done independently of chip and system design – all three aspects will need to be considered simultaneously as part of an overall process. Additionally, this level of integration will also need to provide an interface to the application environment, representing the glue between the world of micro- and nano-electronic technologies and systems with which humans can interact."

Papa also discussed key opportunities for smart systems in new energy and healthcare applications and outlined future objectives and milestones for EPoSS over the next few years, such as:

• Improving the presence and influence of EPoSS, for example, in the European 'Green Cars', 'Internet of Things' and 'Factories of the Future' initiatives;
• Driving the EPoSS Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) to identify new application challenges, such as robotics, and defining development paths at both the technology and systems level;
• And providing an effective voice in the development of the eighth European Framework Program FP8.

About Smart Systems

Smart Systems are miniaturized, networked, energy autonomous and highly reliable electronic devices or systems that can diagnose and describe a situation, and then help the decision-making process in time-critical conditions. They can also mutually address and identify each other and enable a product to interact with the environment.

Smart systems integration penetrates several industry sectors, bringing many market opportunities and a broad-based manufacturing infrastructure. They can be used in a myriad of fields ranging from low-cost high-volume automotive applications to high-cost low-volume instrumentation applications, and including areas such as medical, aerospace, and security and communications.

About EPoSS

EPoSS is an industry-driven initiative that aims to strengthen Europe's capacity to organize and deliver innovation in smart systems integration, in addition to integrated microsystems and nanotechnologies. Initially set up in July 2006 by a group of major industrial companies, based in Europe, to coordinate R&D activities, EPoSS now includes companies of all sizes, public and private research organizations, universities, representatives of the European Commission, and other European initiatives and key organizations within the smart systems integration field. Further information about EPoSS is available at: www.smart-systems-integration.org

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics is a global leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications with innovative semiconductor solutions. ST aims to be the undisputed leader in multimedia convergence and power applications leveraging its vast array of technologies, design expertise and combination of intellectual property portfolio, strategic partnerships and manufacturing strength. In 2009, the Company's net revenues were $8.51 billion. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com. 

SOURCE STMicroelectronics