Overseas Trends

COMS 2005, Germany, August 21-25, 2005
market share of 4.2 billion euros in 2003 by itself, creating 49
thousand jobs and as many as 680 thousand jobs when including
related industries. He indicated that the industry frominnovation to the development of industrial technology wasreceiving resolute support.
Themes in the keynote session and plenary session included
successful case studies on issues facing the micro nano industry,
citing Bosch as one successful enterprise. Other presenterstalked about the MNT businesses in Germany, Holland, andSwitzerland, while others emphasized that a national system forproviding support to MNT in the nation or region had beenstrengthened, or advocated the nurturing of entrepreneurs andthe like. While I was impressed with how the Europeanscountries were actively engaged in the MNT industry
nationwide, there were remarks that the EU procedures for
MNT programs were complex and inflexible, providing little
actual help for industrialization and being particularly ineffective
for small businesses.
Overall, the presentations appeared to be stressing the needfor cooperation among industry, government, and academia,intensifying activities to support entrepreneurs and a broad
range of businesses, and advocating the need to establish acommercialization center by promoting its usefulness.
In connection with this, it was also striking to see how
European countries work actively to industrialize MNT in theirlocal industries. Steady activities to commercialize
micromechanical parts, traditionally thought to be far removed
from MEMS industrialization, have been nurtured through soundnational support. One example can be seen in Switzerland in thesupply of parts to watch-related industries. This year's
conference included a tour of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, aresearch institute under the German government. On theexpansive grounds of the institute, the birthplace of the LIGA
technology, work is carried out on parts industrialization and on
producing machines and heat exchanger parts through a uniquemethod of micromachining metal and ceramic materials. These
approaches toward parts other than semiconductors could serve
as a reference for future undertakings in micromachines.
The representative of Micralyne Inc., a Canadian foundry,
remarked that there is not likely to emerge another “killer app”
for the MEMS industry, and most growth in the industry will
come about by the steady production of small volume, highadded value products. He emphasized that foundry customers
must design their products within the technological capacity of
the foundry rather than trying too
hard to produce something unusual,
undertake due diligence inmanufacturing their products, andeducate themselves on the frameworkof commercialization, including new
products and required investment.
We would be wise to carefully
consider this advice in Japan, as well.

The international conference COMS 2005 was held at BadenBaden, a world-famous and stylish hot springs resort inGermany's Black Forest, for discussing issues regarding thevitalization of the micro and nano technology (MNT) industry.
The conference is held for industrial and government
representatives involved in the MEMS industry primarily inEurope and North America as an opportunity to raise anddiscuss issues related to this industry. The conference is held inmajor cities, alternating between the two continents. This year
marked the tenth COMS conference. Recently, representatives
in the industry have recognized the importance of Asia as asource of information and have advocated holding a conferencein the Asia-Oceania region. There now appear to be plans forholding the conference in Australia in 2007 (next year theconference will be held in St. Petersburg, Florida.).
This year's conference had 270 some people in attendance
and more than 140 presentations, producing lively discussions
with more than half of the participants reporting. Incidentally,
the first conference held in 1984 was very small, with only 80
some participants. However, the number of participants has
increased steadily every year, particularly in North America
where last year's conference received an attendance of 340.
Attendance at conferences held in Europe, on the other hand,tends to be only slight more than two-thirds that in North
America, indicating that the field has a stronger hold in North
America.
The breakdown of participants in this year's conference heldin Baden-Baden was 65% Europeans, 25% North Americans, and
10% Asians. The vitalization of industry in Europe was a major
topic of discussion.
The conference opened with a greeting from Dr. Sigrun
Lang, the mayor of Baden-Baden. She related how the city had arich history in which it prospered as a high-class resort for kings,
emperors, and noblemen and has long been a behind-the-scenes
political arena. She expressed her hope that COMS 2005 wouldserve as a venue for new and important discussions, as whenCharles de Gaulle held his private meetings there.
Later, Dr. Wolfgang Stöffler of the BMBF-Federal Ministry of
Education and Research in Germany proclaimed that theGerman government has invested much in micro and nanotechnology and has great expectations for the field. As Dr.
Stöffler had to attend to other business matters, his deputy
Carsten Diehl reported on how the MNT industry had achievedrecognition as an important industry in Germany by reaching a6