About Us

C-NICE is a collaboration between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Foxconn Interconnect Technologies (FIT), an innovative market leader of connectivity technologies within the data center, mobile, computing, and IoT environments. C-NICE was launched October 1, 2019 and is expected to conduct research over 10 years. It is headquartered in The Grainger College of Engineering’s Coordinated Science Laboratory, one of nation’s oldest and most prestigious interdisciplinary university research laboratories. Placid Ferreira, a professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering, leads the center.

Collaborative teams made up of researchers from FIT and the University of Illinois work together on a broad array of projects, selected and funded on an annual basis, as part of C-NICE.  Projects include ones designed to advance aspects of FIT’s businesses for the computing, communication, and sensing infrastructure that constitute the backbone of the Internet of Things-enabled systems and environments.  Other projects include precision components, such as electronic and optoelectronic connectors, antennas, sensors and parts used in digital cameras. Additional forward-looking projects will explore advances for next-generation communications infrastructure, consumer electronics, and mobile devices for the intelligent, safe environments of the future.

About Foxconn Interconnect Technology

Foxconn Interconnect Technology is a leader in the development and precision manufacturing of high-speed electronic and optoelectronic components that deliver superior signal integrity (http://www.fit-foxconn.com/Home/CompanyProfile). With 5G set to enable an era of Internet of Everything that will drive data traffic growth and new paradigms in business and smart life products, FIT recognizes that the global connector industry is undergoing rapid technical development.  FIT is looking to meet the need for high precision products in industries as varied as the automotive, medical and even aerospace industries. Its California-based subsidiarity, Belkin, is a leading innovator in the development of smart home products (http://www.fit-foxconn.com/Home/Belkin#).