At the semiconductor division of Carl Zeiss it's our mission is to continuously make computer chips faster and more energy efficient. To do so, we go to the very limits of what is possible, both physically and technologically. This is only possible through massive research and development efforts.

In this talk, we tell the story of how Python became a central part in our R&D activities. We explain what worked and what didn't. This leads to a conceptual understanding of how one should regard software in R&D contexts and what is different from classical production software. Based on this we understand how we should structure our software and how we need to set up our organization to support this.