Simplify the task of designers of complex electronic circuits. This is the promise of the company Defacto Technologies, based in Grenoble and specialized in the development of software for the microelectronics industry. It has just been named winner of the EIC Accelerator program, dedicated to supporting innovative European SMEs. In this context, the company will receive a grant of 2.5 million euros to launch an innovative software solution. In addition to this financing, the SME must invest more than one million euros of its own funds and take out some loans to complete, at nearly 4.1 million euros, the overall envelope necessary for this project, running on two years. “This amount will mainly be used for job creation, because we need to expand the team in terms of expertise,” explains Chouki Aktouf, president of the company, which he founded in 2003. Around ten hires are planned, an almost doubling of the workforce of this company which currently has 12 people at its headquarters in Isère and one employee in Palo Alto, for its Californian subsidiary. “Automate as much as possible” Marketing is planned for the second half of 2026. “It will be a new generation of software which will offer a global solution,” assures the CEO. In the microelectronics segment, the design software market (EDA for “Electronic Design Automation”) is worth $9 billion globally. \x{feff}Defacto evolves \x{feff}in the more restricted niche of so-called “front-end” software: these cover the first stages of design, \x{feff}where the different electronic functions are intertwined, as opposed to “back-end” tools, closer to the physical manufacturing processes of electronic chips. For the creation of complex integrated circuits, the assembly of pre-designed bricks represents a key step. “It’s a bit like Lego, with hundreds of blocks to connect together,” illustrates Chouki Aktouf. “Except that as the complexity of circuits increases, we want to automate as much as possible in order to have a simple and easy solution. » 30% time saving This automation will be based on internal technologies from Defacto Technologies and on “machine learning”. More complete, the software will rely on libraries to automatically create integrated subsystems, thus reducing design effort: “Instead of managing a thousand blocks, the designer will only see around thirty », explains the manager, estimating the time saving of 30%, compared to traditional tools.