The UK’s microelectronics sector has no shortage of ambition. From photonics and semiconductor manufacturing to optical computing, quantum technologies and advanced embedded systems, the country has significant technical expertise and a growing ecosystem of innovative companies. But there is a more fundamental question: where will the people come from to deliver that growth?
For Michael Adeniya, Group Event Director of Microelectronics UK, the answer has to involve industry, universities and early-career engineers working much more closely together. That is why this year’s Microelectronics UK, taking place at Excel London on 29 and 30 September, will introduce the Talent Foundry, a dedicated programme designed to connect emerging talent directly with experienced professionals.
“When we were first scoping out this show, we identified this issue of talent attraction and retention at the outset,” Adeniya explains. “In conversations that I had with companies… I was speaking to people finding it hard to get the right people through the door – even when they're already based in the UK.” That challenge is not simply about the number of graduates being produced: Adeniya points to the international competition for skilled engineers, with UK-based talent sometimes choosing opportunities in locations abroad.
His initiative builds on work already undertaken at the inaugural Microelectronics UK event. Last year, the show featured a skills zone, mentoring and a jobs board through which sponsors and partners could promote vacancies. Although the jobs board will be back, this year, Adeniya says, his team wanted to “take this talent piece to the next level”. That has resulted in a combination of recruitment support, mentoring and, most importantly, direct interaction between students and industry professionals.
5VTech, a Bristol-based technology talent agency, is supporting the jobs initiative. It will be available to “mentor people, and give people advice on different career paths”. The Talent Foundry plans to go beyond simply matching candidates with vacancies. “We thought the Foundry name was quite an interesting play on words relating to the industry,” Adeniya says. “But it's essentially a network of roundtables that take place at the show.”
The confirmed programme, on 30 September, has three sessions designed specifically for students and early-career engineers, giving participants face-to-face access to professionals from across the industry, with discussions focused on career pathways, skills and the realities of working in different technical roles.
The speakers demonstrate the breadth of the ecosystem the initiative is trying to expose young engineers to. The first session includes Mahdieh Ghoddusi of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation, John Robertson of DSTL, and Robert Atchison of ClearspaceUK. The second brings together Vibishna Balagopal of Thales and Karen Jane Gordon of Leonardo UK. The final session features senior figures from Arm, BT, Dassault Systèmes and Nokia.
As Adeniya explains, each roundtable is intended to provide a much more realistic picture of what a career might look like. “Those experts are going to be there to give a group of anywhere between 10 to 15 individuals per roundtable an insight into the day in the life of an embedded engineer, how would you get into a career in optics and so forth,” he says. Crucially, participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions and get “some tangible insight and advice so they can go and explore those career paths”.
The search for new talent
The Talent Foundry is also being supported by growing engagement with universities, with institutions including UCL involved in the event. For universities, Adeniya argues, the relationship with industry is becoming a two-way responsibility. “They want to get undergrads and new talent into the university, but they have an obligation to help the people in their university get great jobs in industry,” he says.
That creates what could be described as a complete talent pipeline: attracting people into relevant courses, connecting them with industry while they study, and helping them move into employment or entrepreneurship afterwards. “Part of that narrative is about excellent people in university that are creating their own IP,” Adeniya says. “That entrepreneurial pathway is just as important as conventional recruitment. They could go and join corporations but a good chunk are also exploring their own entrepreneurial paths.”
Electro Optics is again running the Photonics UK stage at Microelectronics UK. The first day of programming focuses on areas including the photonics roadmap, free-space optical communications, space-based systems and orbital infrastructure, photonics manufacturing in low Earth orbit and defence-related applications. Day two moves into compact photonic integration, fibre sensing, optical computing, AI, 6G, AR/VR and quantum technologies.
Microelectronics UK enters its second year with considerably greater scale. Adeniya says the show had just over 3,000 attendees in its first year and is now targeting around 4,500. Exhibitor numbers have grown from just under 100, with the expectation of reaching around 180. There’s growing interest from abroad too.
As Microelectronics UK brings photonics, semiconductors and embedded systems together, the Talent Foundry is designed to ensure that the next generation is not simply watching that convergence happen, but has a route into becoming part of it. The industry may be building increasingly sophisticated technologies, but Adeniya's message is straightforward: the UK’s ability to exploit them will depend on having the people with the skills to build, deploy and commercialise them.
For more information, the full agenda and registration details, visit www.microelectronicsuk.com
