TUM Alumnus Kurt Antreich received the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Design and Automation Association. Antreich was handed over the prize for his long-lasting technical-scientific contributions in the design automation of microelectronic systems in person by EDAA Chairman, Prof. Peter Marwedel (Image: edaa).
Restricted by the corporate corset
Upon earning his diploma in Electrical Engineering from TUM in 1959, 25-year-old Kurt Antreich joined AEG-Telefunken near Stuttgart as a design engineer. Quickly, he was promoted Laboratory Manager, Head of Department, and finally Director of the Advanced Development Department. “I was the boss and at the same time the youngest amongst the Head of Departments assigned to me” Kurt Antreich looks back on his meteoric career. At the same time it was a challenging time in his life. The permanent time constraints and pressure to perform in the company that was in constant competition with Siemens, the numerous hours of overtime, and the arduous work of employee motivation had drained him. And even though he proudly looks back on his achievements of that time, Kurt Antreich still remembers how restricted he felt in the corporation.
At the university you have a lot more freedom than in the industry.
Freedom and pioneering spirit at the university
At TUM Kurt Antreich was finally able to choose the focal points of his research himself. This freedom gave him wings to achieve scientifically challenging and at the same time economically relevant pioneer work. He was able to do that not least because of his extensive third-party fundraising. Especially Kurt Antreich’s research in developing modern CAD-tools and in the area of automated analogue circuit design contributed to the chair’s international recognition. In the eighties Kurt Antreich and his research group managed to develop a CAD-tool that was able to solve complex layout problems.This work has inspired numerous research efforts, amongst them important projects at the University of California in Berkeley. And also the algorithms for design automation of integrated systems developed by him and his team can be found in the design tools of current CAD-suppliers and in-house tools of major semiconductor manufacturers alike.
For many decades, and despite particularly strong international competition, Kurt Antreich has been instrumental in defining the technical and academic development of his field from the very beginning. In collaboration with TUM doctorate students a start-up for the production and worldwide distribution of software tools for the design of analogue components was created based on his research. Together with his successor at TUM and another colleague Kurt Antreich was working there after his retirement in an advisory role for many years. As a TUM Emeritus of Excellence he remained to be a mentor to gifted students despite his age. “This special title means a lot to me and tells me that my university was pleased with my work in teaching and research”, he explained.
Kurt Antreich (Image: Uli Benz).
Degree Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and 1959
From 1954 until 1959 Kurt Antreich studied Communications Engineering at TUM. In 1966 he received his doctorate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at the Technical University Karlsruhe. From 1959 until 1975 he worked for AEG-Telefunken as a development engineer and later became director of the Advanced Development department. Simultaneously he accepted teaching assignments from the University of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.
Eventually Kurt Antreich returned from the industry to the academic realm: from 1975 until his retirement in 2003 he was professor for Electronic Design Automation at the TUM Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Together with doctorate students of his alma mater he set up the company MunEDA in 2001, which he still supported in an advisory capacity for many years. Kurt Antreich has been a longtime technical consultant for the German Research Foundation (DFG), a member of Bosch Telecom’s Board of Supervisors, and a member of the steering and programme committees of various international conferences.
Kurt Antreich has received numerous awards for his internationally recognized achievements in the field of Information Technology; amongst others the German Federal Cross of Merit, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Design and Automation Association or the Karl-Küpfmüller-Prize awarded by the ITG in the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technology (VDE).
Professor Dr. Kurt Antreich was appointed TUM Emeritus of Excellence by TUM president Prof. Dr. Wolfgang A. Herrmann in 2007.
In July 2022, Kurt Antreich passed away at the age of 87.
