Michigan is host to COMS 2002,
gathering of microsystems leaders

Sept. 9, 2002 — More than 300 small tech executives, researchers, investors and analysts from around the world are expected to attend the 2002 International Commercialization of Micro and Nanosystems Conference (COMS) in Ypsilanti, Mich., this week.

The four-day conference, which starts today, will include industry overviews, roadmaps and a workshop on financing as well as more than a dozen sessions on packaging, marketing, infrastructure, education and other issues.

Session speakers also will discuss uses for MEMS, microsystems and nanotechnology in automotive, telecommunications, biomedical, space, national security and other applications.

The conference, now in its seventh year, was organized by the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation (MANCEF). MANCEF is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the development and commercialization of micron- and nanoscale technologies.

Some devices, such as MEMS accelerometers in airbags and ink jet nozzles in printers, have been successfully incorporated into high-volume products, while others — micromirror optical switches, RF MEMS or microfluidic diagnostic products, for instance — are entering or are poised to enter markets in the near future.

Michigan Gov. John Engler was scheduled to kick off the conference today. Other prominent speakers include Ken Wise, director of the Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems at the University of Michigan and a MEMS pioneer; Steven Senturia, a former engineering professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-founder and president of the optical networking company Polychromix; veteran small tech entrepreneurs Kurt Petersen, president of Cepheid Inc., and Janusz Bryzek, chief executive of Transparent Networks Inc.; and Rick Snyder, chief executive of the industry accelerator Ardesta LLC, parent company of Small Times Media.

Past conferences have been held in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hawaii, New Mexico and California. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. played a key role in bringing the conference to Michigan by emphasizing the state’s educational, business and governmental commitments to small tech.

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