Roger Grace, President of Roger Grace Associates, a MEMS marketing organization, will debut the results of his annual “Barriers to the Successful Commercialization of MEMS: The 2012 MEMS Commercialization Report Card” at the annual Smart Systems Integration Conference and Exhibition to take place at Amsterdam, The Netherlands on March 13/14, 2013. The Report Card market research project, which provides letter “grades” to the 14 critical success factors for MEMS commercialization, was developed by Roger Grace Associates based on significant research he conducted on the topic of technology commercialization. Begun in 1998 and reporting yearly on the state of the MEMS industry’s commercialization efforts worldwide, it is universally considered to be a truly unique, objective and accurate assessment tool by MEMS community leaders to monitor the status of the progress of the commercialization of MEMS on a year-by-year basis and to develop strategies to exploit opportunities.
“The 2012 Report Card market study demonstrated yet another successful year for the MEMS community to participate in having their voices heard on their opinions of the current state of commercialization efforts of the MEMS industry,” Grace said. “Over 65 MEMS industry leaders participated in the study. They represented a true sample of MEMS industry suppliers, users and infrastructure organizations worldwide equating to over 1300 years of aggregate experience in the MEMS industry. Not only did the participants provide letter grades to the 14 topics but additionally contributed valuable comments as to their opinions and rationale for the grades which uncovered many interesting issues.”
The overall grade of the 2012 MEMS Commercialization Report Card maintained its B- level from its 2011 level with changes in a number of grades from their 2011 levels. Among the most significant changes was “Design for Manufacturing and Test,” which went from B+ in 2011 to B- in 2012 and represented the second consecutive year of the decline. The “Market Research” grade declined from B in 2011 to B- in 2012 and also representing a second consecutive year decline. Increased grades included “Profitability,” which rose from C- in 2011 to C in 2012, thus coming back from its low of D in 2010. ”Cluster Development” increased from C in 2011 to C+ in 2012. One of the most striking results was the continuing low grade of D+ for “Venture Capital Attraction” for the third consecutive year and at reporting period low of D in 2009.
“Based on the results of the study, it is apparent that the MEMS industry has a great deal of room for improvement, especially in the business areas of ‘Profitability,’ ‘Venture Capital Attraction’ and “Creation of Wealth,’” Grace commented. “I would have expected to see much more promising grades in these areas since we are now very strongly coming out of the Crisis of 2008 and especially since several market studies have pegged the growth of the MEMS market in the high teens for 2012. However, the results did not support this. I believe that these 14 critical success factor topics are the “vital signs” of the MEMS industry. Their respective grades reflect the true “health” of the MEMS industry based on the select group people who I have interviewed, their experience and knowledge of the industry and their representation of the various sectors of the MEMS ecosystem worldwide.”
The 2012 MEMS Commercialization Report Card will be available on the Roger Grace Associates website beginning on March 13. The final study results, including “verbatim” comments from the participants is scheduled for publication on April 15 and will also be available on the Roger Grace Associates website. Mr. Grace will present the findings of the 2012 MEMS Commercialization Report Card at a webinar sponsored by the MEMS Industry Group on April 2, 2013 at 11:30 a.m.
Roger Grace Associates, headquartered in Naples Florida, was founded in 1982. It provides strategic marketing services to the MEMS and sensors community worldwide including strategic marketing communications, branding and positioning, market research, product launching and due diligence. Its list of clients represents the “who’s who” of MEMS organizations from Fortune 500 companies to startups and government agencies.