FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Marks Milestone Year CRANE, Ind. – As 2024 comes to a close, the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub has emerged as a powerful catalyst for innovation and growth in the Midwest's microelectronics ecosystem. Under the leadership of Applied Research Institute (ARI), the hub has made substantial strides in fostering collaboration, driving technological advancements, and nurturing talent. SCMC is poised to help shape the future of microelectronics, strengthening America's global competitiveness and driving economic and national security. In its first year, SCMC focused on standing up its internal operations, and established a robust and diverse membership base spanning academia, small businesses, industry leading commercial companies and defense industrial base system integrators. This vibrant community was integral to driving ideation, advancing technologies through prototyping, and positioning projects for efficient transition to production. SCMC innovation processes and framework has made significant strides to accelerate microelectronics technology advancements through the proven innovation architecture. The nucleus of this framework incorporates collaborative ideation sessions, networking collisions, innovation templates/best practices, and the convergence of project teams. For example, SCMC's collaborative ideation sessions, such as the one held in June 2024, are designed to reduce innovation barriers. SCMC implemented a suite of tools, revolutionizing the operational capabilities. With these tools, the SCMC Hub can communicate efficiently, ensuring clear and timely information exchange among all members. This improved communication has resulted in better teaming opportunities, enabling more cohesive and strategic collaborations. The online member engagement platform houses all hub engagement, outreach, communications, event calendar, teaming profiles, member resources, data calls, and membership data. By utilizing this platform, SCMC members can interact with other hub members, receive pertinent Hub communications, partner with new innovative companies, share noteworthy news/articles, view announcements, and explore upcoming events. Upon the launch of this platform, our membership base consisted of 136 members, but saw significant and constant growth each quarter, bringing us to over 250 members, an 83% increase. Members can utilize the newly opened Silicon Crossroads Collaboration Center (SC3), which serves as a state-of-the-art hub for the SCMC, providing a modern and flexible space to foster collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing among the hub's diverse membership. The center's modular design accommodates a variety of events, workshops, and meetings, and already hosted over 36 activities that brought in more than 800 members and ecosystem partners. As a central gathering place for the three-state hub coalition, the SC3 plays a vital role in enabling the rich engagement and community-building that are critical to the hub's success. One of the most notable in 2024 was the establishment of the R1 Nucleus (R1N), an unprecedented collaboration between four prestigious regional universities: Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, University of Michigan, and University of Illinois Champaign- Urbana.