Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania–A new trade association has been launched by leading microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) developers in the U.S. to represent the growing $2 billion technology sector. The association, MEMS-Industry Group, will function as a member-resource, sharing technology roadmaps, global market information, state of the industry reports, and acting as an advocate in public policy issues.

A mid-1990s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-sponsored MEMS industry study team identified the need for a MEMS industry association. As a result of the study, Dr. Kaigham J. Gabriel, professor Carnegie Mellon University, and Dr. John Seely Brown, chief scientist Xerox, were asked to be founding co-directors of MEMS-Industry Group.

“MEMS-Industry Group will provide the MEMS community with a much-needed unified voice across diverse sectors that are moving forward with MEMS commercialization,” says Gabriel. “Collectively, we are looking at an industry that, according to several market studies, is expected to quadruple by 2004. MEMS-Industry Group will serve as the rallying point for this explosive-growth industry.”

Among the organization’s benefits, MEMS-Industry Group will offer annual reports that analyze the state of MEMS technology and the dimensions of its evolution, including 5-, 10-, and 20-year technology forecasts to its members and interested parties.