1) You joined the Advisory Board this year – please tell us what motivated you to do so.
I was motivated to join the Advisory Board because of the unique role Image Sensors Europe plays in bringing together industry, research, and innovation across the global image sensor ecosystem. From my perspective, it is a valuable forum for open technical exchange spanning device‑level innovation through system‑level applications. I was also keen to contribute a fresh perspective, shaped by my experience working in the US image sensor industry, and to help bridge viewpoints across regions. Joining the Advisory Board felt like a natural opportunity to both give back to the community and help guide discussions as the industry continues to evolve.
2) From a US perspective, what do you see as the strengths of the European image sensor ecosystem? And what about the challenges?
One of the key strengths of the European image sensor ecosystem is its deep technical foundation and strong collaboration between academia, research institutes, and industry. Europe continues to lead in fundamental device innovation, specialty sensors, and long‑term research that often enables breakthroughs years later. The close ties between universities, startups, and established companies create a healthy environment for innovation.
The main challenge, from a US perspective, is translating that innovation into large‑scale commercialization and system‑level adoption, particularly in highly competitive, cost‑driven markets. Bridging that gap while maintaining Europe’s strengths in deep technical excellence will be critical going forward.
3) What are you looking forward to hearing discussed at ISE in its 20th year?
As Image Sensors Europe marks its 20th year, I am particularly looking forward to discussions that reflect both how far the industry has come and where it is heading next. Topics such as new pixel architectures, advanced process technologies, AI‑driven imaging, and emerging applications beyond traditional consumer markets are especially compelling. I’m also interested in hearing reflections on how collaboration models have evolved over the past two decades and how they will need to adapt to address the next generation of challenges in image sensing.
Abhinav Agarwal is currently a Member of Technical Staff with Forza Silicon (Ametek Inc.) and was instrumental in recently establishing a Forza India design center in Bangalore. He is a technical lead for various CMOS image sensors chips designed at Forza Silicon in applications ranging from cinematography, automotive and biomedical. As a lead author, he has presented papers at several prominent conferences like the International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW), IEEE VLSI Symposium on Circuits and Technology. He received the best student paper award at the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference in 2020. Abhinav is also passionate about improving the design and verification flows related to CMOS Image Sensors and has presented multiple collaborative articles with Siemens EDA at the Design Automation Conference (DAC). Prior to his role Forza, Abhinav was graduate researcher at Caltech working in implantable medical devices resulting in several US patents.
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