The Altium Drop-In Centre, a partnership between Premier EDA Solutions and the Institute for Product Design & Manufacture (IPDM) at Edinburgh Napier University, has been created to enable Scottish electronics designers to access Altium's design software free of charge for a limited period. 

Based at IPDM's premises at the Alba Business Park, Livingston, NewElecronics reports that the new centre will also supply additional Altium software licences for Scottish SME start ups and individuals who are in the process of securing first round funding or have an idea for a new technological product or want to develop an existing product. 



"By providing access to the necessary design tools and expertise to support new product development,our aim is to positively stimulate and increase electronics product design in Scotland" said IPDM's director Professor Ian Hunt (right).

At the end of January  Altium announced the addition of a comprehensive new range of board-level components from STMicroelectronics' Power Management catalogue to its online content delivery ecosystem, AltiumLive or further expansion of Altium's partnership program, which aims to forge collaborative relationships with a broad group of electronic component manufacturers and distributors.

The strategic partnerships allow Altium to deliver quality online content and services directly to Altium Designer users. Along with device manufacturers such as STMicroelectronics, Altium also established relationships with parts suppliers and vendors such as Newark, Digi-Key and Mouser,  allowing board-level components to include real-time supply-chain information, such as vendor choice, pricing and availability.

"Collaboration between Altium and parts manufacturers helps us produce high-integrity design IP for our customers," said Rowland Washington, Content Development manager for Altium. "We are pleased to be working with companies such as STMicroelectronics to develop an ever increasing range of third party libraries, templates, reference designs and other ready-to-use design content."