EUROPRACTICE membership and design tools access is managed by UKRI-STFC at the Microelectronics Support Centre, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK.
EUROPRACTICE membership offers access to a wide range of modern design methodologies for IC, Photonics, MEMS, FPGA and Systems, for non-commercial research and teaching. Please click here for membership information
All one-off license charges, plus annual charges are quoted on our price list and order forms. Formal quotations are not issued.
New members will be expected to pay at their first Europractice invoices in advance of any licenses being delivered to them.
Purchases of design tools may increase your institution's annual charges. If the order is the first by your institution of any license bundle type (i.e. Cadence IC, Synopsys TCAD, Siemens EDA FPGA & Board etc) then an annual charge will apply and the charges must be added to you Purchase Order. If you go on to buy more licenses of the same bundle type then no additional annual charge will apply. Please note that there are one or two exceptions i.e. where a annual charge applies to each license purchased (please refer to the Order Forms). Members receiving first licenses before 1 July will be invoiced for the full year's annual charge for the current 1 October to 30 September period as the first year's annual charge, and from the next 1 October as the second year and so on. Only if licenses are delivered after 1 July will the annual charge not be valid for the current period (i.e. will apply from the next 1 October only). Annual charges invoiced for but not subsequently due will be credited against a future invoice.
The exception to the 1 July delivery rule are those vendors whose annual charges are calculated on a pro-rata basis in the first year, where users pay only for the whole calendar months that that their first license is valid for. The Order Forms will explain this
Annual charges are MANDATORY and must be paid for each year of continued use, including the first. Annual charges include the right to use, plus technical support (from UKRI-STFC) and any upgrades or updates that are available.
If your Institute is in the UK you will be charged VAT. The UKRI-STFC VAT number is GB 287 461 957.
A single consolidated annual charges invoice for all products (subscription charge plus annual charges of design tools acquired to date) will be issued annually by UKRI-STFC, in the summer (usually in July). Payment of that invoice (due on 1 October) will enable UKRI-STFC to order license renewals from the vendors. These will be e-mailed by UKRI-STFC to the EUROPRACTICE Representative, with copies available on the Member only web pages in advance of the expiry of the current licenses (i.e. at year end if timely payment is made). Some design tools have user-led downloads as the delivery mechanism and these will be described to users once the tools are acquired.
Prices can be found via the following link: Price List
In the case of most EUROPRACTICE vendors, users may download the installation media from the Software Download Server managed by the Microelectronics Support Centre.
Access to the Software Download Server is controlled by a username and password. These login credentials are only sent to the EUROPRACTICE Representative at each EUROPRACTICE member institution and we ask the Representative to keep these details private. However, EUROPRACTICE Representatives have been sent information on how they can to nominate a limited number of appropriate colleagues within the EUROPRACTICE member to receive their own private login details for access to the Software Download Server (plus access to license files and certain other password controlled data).
If you are unable to contact your EUROPRACTICE Representative or are unsure who this is then please e-mail MicroelectronicsCentre@stfc.ac.uk.
Please note that all Software Download Server passwords will be refreshed annually.
The EUROPRACTICE Representative will be informed each time a new bundle becomes available via an order, and each time an annual tools upgrade becomes available for established bundles.
Once you have your login details, please click here for instructions on how to access the EUROPRACTICE software download server.
While each Order Form is specific to a particular package, they all have a common layout. Generally, page 1 is for you to enter address details and to specify the goods that are being purchased. Page 2 shows the table of products available from the vendor and their one-off costs and annual charges. Page 3 is generally for hostid information for new or additional license purchases and Page 4 is generally for changes to license servers (rehosts). Some forms have additional pages.
To ensure that the information on the Order Form can be read clearly, it is important it is completed electronically.
The annual charges of all packages licensed is due to be paid annually unless the use of the package is discontinued. Any Member wishing to discontinue use of a package on 30 September, should complete and sign a Design Tools Termination Form and return to UKRI-STFC before 1 July, otherwise they may be liable for the full annual charge payment for the following October - September period.
Order forms and the design tools termination form, can be found via the following link: Order Forms
Where there is a cost associated with your order, an official Institute Purchase Order must be raised by your finance department to cover the total amount in EURO. The Purchase Order must be addressed to:
Microelectronics Support Centre,
UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council,
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
Harwell Campus,
DIDCOT,
OX11 0QX,
United Kingdom.
A copy of the Purchase Order must be supplied.
A Purchase Order is a commitment by your Institute to pay a future invoice for goods/services. Usually, you must ask your financial department to raise the Purchase Order. They will need to know the quantity, name of the goods and the prices. If you have difficulty in obtaining a Purchase Order, please click here for guidance.
End User Agreements can be found via the following link: End User Agreements. Please click here for guidance on completing the End User Agreements.
All EUROPRACTICE orders are subject to the final approval of the vendor concerned. The prior approval of the vendor must be sought before we can proceed with orders from all EUROPRACTICE Research Institute members (or prospective new EUROPRACTICE Research Institute members), plus Academic Institutes (or prospective new Academic members) from outside of the EU only.
To assist in this process, please supply along with the other order documentation (or before sending the other order documentation if you prefer) a statement which outlines the strictly non-commercial end usage intentions for the required design tools (i.e. what you plan to do with the tools).
Please note that a statement is required when ordering any licenses (all orders, both first time and subsequent for any license bundle).
A statement is not required if an existing licensee is simply changing servers (i.e.rehosting licenses).
The statement must be on your Institute's headed notepaper and must must contain the name of the vendor and the name of the bundle/s you wish to access. The statement need not be too long (one A4 sheet is fine), but please supply as much information as you can to help the vendor assess your case. It should definitely clarify that your usage intentions are strictly non-commercial and are within the terms of the vendor's End User Agreement.
One statement per vendor is required.
Please click here for a template containing guidance notes.
Please feel free to e-mail MicroelectronicsCentre@stfc.ac.uk the statement/s regarding the non-commercial planned end usage activities relating to the required tools. We should then be able to approach the vendor/s for the necessary approval.
Most licenses are ordered on a single bulk license order per vendor per month after a period of checking and processing which follows the deadline for receipt of paperwork which is the 25th day of each month. All paperwork including order forms detailing the server hostid and legal and other agreements must be in place before an order can be placed with the vendor. Missing items may delay placement of your order with the vendor potentially for several weeks.
Please send high quality, colour, scanned PDF versions of all documents via e-mail to MicroelectronicsCentre@stfc.ac.uk. We do not need paper originals, unless high quality, colour, scanned PDFs cannot be supplied.