Announcing the Siemens Cre8Ventures Open Higher Education Program — with Arm and the University of Southampton as launch partners
Siemens Cre8Ventures announces its open Higher Education Program (HEP). Europe’s once-in-a-generation #EUChipsAct opportunity has arrived — and with it, a chance to accelerate semiconductor innovation at unprecedented speed. For corporates, achieving transparency and shortening the path to value has never been more critical. For us, that starts by meeting innovators where ideas begin: inside universities.
Why now — and why partner-led
Academics are the lifeblood of Europe’s chip innovation pipeline. Our program shines a light into the Digital Twin Marketplace from the earliest ideation stage right through to full commercialisation — giving students and pre-incorporation teams a clear, sovereign pathway from lab to fab. We’ve built this as a partner-led initiative from day one so universities, industry, and policymakers can move together, faster.
Launch partners
We’re proud to launch with cornerstone partners Arm and the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS). Together, we’re integrating Siemens’ multi-physics Digital Twin Marketplace and collaborative venturing know-how with Arm’s technology and developer resources, and ECS’s world-class lab-to-fab capabilities — creating a practical bridge from classroom to commercial world.
What participants receive
Through the program, startups and academic teams can leverage:
- Sovereign Siemens Cre8Ventures Digital Twin Marketplace — first-of-a-kind collaborative venturing capabilities that make performance, cost and commercialization pathways visible early.
- Arm enablement — access to Arm Academic Access, Arm Flexible Access for Startups, developer training and communities.
- ECS lab-to-fab expertise — hands-on education, digital-twin simulation and incubation at the University of Southampton.
- Structured venture journey — a clear route from Proof-of-Technology → Proof-of-Concept → Proof-of-Value, with market validation and corporate engagement built in.
- Go-to-market access — connectivity into Siemens’ and Arm’s global customer networks (“boardroom-to-lab” collaboration).
- Entrepreneurial bootcamps — partner-run workshops and design-kit experiences to turn ideas into investor-ready propositions.
Designed for transparency and speed
This initiative delivers value across the ecosystem: students accelerate learning and startup creation with industrial-grade tools; universities broaden curricula and boost engagement; and industry gains early visibility into validated innovations and talent — all supporting Europe’s technology sovereignty goals.
It’s also backed by the Semiconductor Education Alliance (SEA), a not-for-profit consortium convened by Arm to scale semiconductor education and innovation globally — extending the program’s reach across Europe and beyond.
How it works inside the Digital Twin Marketplace
- Teams start by evidencing Proof-of-Technology using Siemens EDA and partner IP.
- They progress to Proof-of-Concept, engaging real-world use cases from our corporate networks.
- They reach Proof-of-Value by validating power, performance and cost at full-system level in multi-physics digital twins — creating investor-ready spinouts and licensing pathways.
What’s next
We’re actively engaging additional leading technology universities, RTOs and Chips Act Competence Centres across Europe to scale the program. And we’ll shortly share more on our inaugural first-of-a-kind sovereign drone campaign, where this partner-led, shift-left approach will help de-risk and accelerate breakthrough capabilities for European industry.
For more information, contact Carson Bradbury, Director – EU Chips Act & Co-founder Cre8Ventures (carson.bradbury@siemens.com)
