PCB WEST has, since its inception, been the leading conference for printed circuit board design and manufacturing.
One reason for that is the intense focus on what the industry needs in terms of training. Another is, besides the educational aspects, it can be fun, surprising and occasionally even provocative.
Years ago, the conference founder Pete Waddell introduced a session called EDA Face-to-Face, where CAD vendors took to the stage and addressed questions straight-on from their users. As you might imagine, the back-and-forth sometimes got a little heated. One particular memory includes a couple users, fed up with the lack of bidirectional electronic data transfer, roiling the crowd with their public callout of the major ECAD companies for not modifying their tools to permit data in.
Eventually the vendors stopped volunteering to participate. But over time, it should be noted, they eventually started offering bidirectional data capability. Sometimes being loud matters.
As AI makes its move into ECAD, PCEA has kept up by introducing the AI Roadmap for Electronics and adding presentations on AI to our array of conferences. Panelists for our presentations were typically vendors, and they did a nice job promoting the potential of the technology.
This year, however, we are taking a page from the past and shifting the spotlight to the users. On Oct. 1 (aka Free Wednesday) this year, the theme of one of our panels is “What Users Really Think of Today’s AI.” The esteemed group features a pair of designers, an assembler and a supply chain expert. The panelists have examined the various AI-assisted tools for their companies, and the goal is to help enlighten those slower to adopt what works – and what doesn’t. Expect some surprises!
I’m equally excited for the Free Wednesday session on “The Future of PCB Design: Looking 2-5 Years Ahead, What is Coming?” Like the panel, the talk will touch on AI. Still, the larger focus will be on other changes ahead, including heterogeneous packaging, textile-integrated microelectronic systems, high-speed/high-current, optics and even the future origin of designers. If you want to know where the industry – and possibly your career – is headed, you’ll want to catch this session.
Not to bury the lede, but the panels sandwich this year’s keynote, which promises to be scintillating. While past addresses have featured CEOs of major ECAD companies and leading technologists at companies like Meta, I honestly can’t recall a time we’ve invited a leader from a startup to take center stage.
Until this year, I mean.
I’m excited to announce Jackson Schultz, head of engineering at Rainmaker, as keynote of PCB West 2025.
Schultz leads the design and integration of Rainmaker’s autonomous cloud seeding system, which is grabbing attention across a stream of major media outlets, not to mention private equity firms, which have funded the company to the point it is moving into a 70,000 sq. ft. facility this fall.
With a background in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with Anduril and test instrumentation architecture with Regent Craft, Schultz is exquisitely suited to describing the range of atmospheric sensors, flight controls, lidar, radar and other technologies used in the pioneering company’s weather radar and modeling techniques.
Schultz hits the podium at 11 a.m. on Oct. 1, so be sure to arrive early.
And while you’re at the show, stop by the PCEA booth or grab one of the staff or board members with a PCEA badge and share your input. It’s what we’re here for!
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Mike Buetow is president of PCEA (pcea.net); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
