For those of you who have heard me talk about MEMS and medical/quality-of-life (QoL) applications — I don’t shy away from calling it “God’s work.” I still get misty-eyed when I think about my friend’s 10-year-old daughter, Anna, who has Type 1 Diabetes. Last year I told Anna about technology from MicroCHIPS that (thanks to the wonders of MEMS) will someday enable her to seamlessly and automatically monitor and dose her insulin without having to prick her finger and then calculate and administer a dose before every meal or snack. She’ll get her dignity back and she’ll improve her quality of life.

The Holy Grail in medicine is not diagnosing Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or even obesity — it’s figuring out what’s next and how to deal with it. MEMS technology can and will help to navigate that path.
With MEMS technology fundamental to new medical/QoL devices and applications, understanding opportunities in this rapid-growth market is more important than ever. At the MEMS Executive Congress US 2012, we’ve lined up a panel of industry experts to discuss how MEMS continues to play a critical role in the development of new technologies that assist with patient monitoring, diagnostics, therapy and portable health care.

To preview our panel, I’ve invited my moderator, Jeannette F. Wilson, product line manager, sensor and actuator solution division (SASD) / AISG, Freescale Semiconductor, to introduce our panelists and share her thoughts on what they will discuss.

Q:  Jeannette – who is on this fabulous MEMS in Medical/QoL panel?

A:  First up is Robert Farra, president & COO of MicroCHIPS (the company you mentioned in your opening). Robert’s product experience covers drug delivery combination products, implantable glucose sensors, life support systems, ventricle assist devices, artificial hearts, intra-aortic balloons and pumps, minimally invasive laparoscopic, and endoscopic and surgical devices, as well as capital equipment and their corresponding single-use devices.

Next up is Paul Gerrish, senior director, technology and design, implantable microsystems technology, Medtronic. What impressed me is that his bio includes a statement that Medtronic’s Implantable organization is “energized by the belief that there is still tremendous opportunity for hardware solutions to contribute toward making a difference in improving the lives of people worldwide.” I love it.

And last but definitely not least is someone from your hometown of Pittsburgh: Ivo Stivoric, CTO & VP of new products, BodyMedia. As one of the original founders, he took his vision for the life-changing BodyMedia technology from conception to launch, first in the medical space and then to consumers. Today Ivo is spearheading the rapid expansion of the product line across a wide-range of healthcare applications such as disease management.

Q: Wow, that is an impressive panel! You will have your hands full moderating the discussion but I am confident that you are up to the task. Let’s talk about some of the issues that you’re going to discuss with the panelists. For example, how is MEMS enabling better health/QoL with regard to prevention, monitoring, management, rehab, and replacement?

A:  MEMS continues to play a critical role in the development of new technologies that assist with patient monitoring, diagnostics, therapy and portable health care. Chronic diseases are an epidemic. It is possible to delay or prevent many chronic diseases associated with obesity and aging by remaining physically active. An activity monitor, for example, is a small device that records information about user’s physical activity patterns throughout the day. MEMS inertial sensors form the basis of many activity monitors that are designed to detect changes in force resulting from motion, tilt, positioning, shock and vibration.

Another possible side effect of aging and obesity is hypertension. MEMS pressure sensors enable the use of blood pressure monitoring conducted at home for the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Inertial sensors are also used to improve QoL for rehab and replacement. Inertial measurements provide motion tracking, posture and gait analysis to help daily movement and flexibility and to enhance athletic performance.

Q: What are your thoughts on where we will be in the next 5-10 years, in terms of MEMS advancing applications in medical/QoL?

A:  Research is currently underway using MEMS technology for many innovative applications such as artificial pancreas, human-like motion for prosthetics, sensor arrays for rapid monitoring and diagnosis at home, and micropumps for drug delivery. MEMS pressure sensors will be used more frequently in invasive medical applications such as catheter tip sensors. While not all of these solutions will be in widespread use due to the rigorous testing required for medical devices, the trend toward using MEMS in health and medical applications will continue to enhance QoL.

Q:  We are seeing a lot about how people are utilizing existing consumer devices (such as smartphones) to monitor their health. What are some examples of how they being adapted for QoL applications?

A:  Existing medical applications such as telehealth gateways are becoming more connected. Telehealth gateways are data aggregators that tie various MEMS sensor solutions with back-end personal health records (PHR) via the cloud. Consumer devices containing MEMS sensors such as smartphones, pedometers, and other activity monitors can monitor activity and then transmit data to the cloud for use by physicians and patients.

As MEMS devices become integrated into healthcare applications, contextual awareness applications become more feasible. Augmented reality applications such as a ‘virtual nurse,’ will allow intuitive and rich interactivity between a patient and their environment and a patient and their medical support team — all in support of improving QoL.

For those of you who have heard me talk about MEMS and medical/quality-of-life (QoL) applications — I don’t shy away from calling it “God’s work.” I still get misty-eyed when I think about my friend’s 10-year-old daughter, Anna, who has Type 1 Diabetes. Last year I told Anna about technology from MicroCHIPS that (thanks to the wonders of MEMS) will someday enable her to seamlessly and automatically monitor and dose her insulin without having to prick her finger and then calculate and administer a dose before every meal or snack. She’ll get her dignity back and she’ll improve her quality of life.

The Holy Grail in medicine is not diagnosing Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or even obesity — it’s figuring out what’s next and how to deal with it. MEMS technology can and will help to navigate that path. With MEMS technology fundamental to new medical/QoL devices and applications, understanding opportunities in this rapid-growth market is more important than ever. At the MEMS Executive Congress US 2012, we’ve lined up a panel of industry experts to discuss how MEMS continues to play a critical role in the development of new technologies that assist with patient monitoring, diagnostics, therapy and portable health care.

To preview our panel, I’ve invited my moderator, Jeannette F. Wilson, product line manager, sensor and actuator solution division (SASD) / AISG, Freescale Semiconductor, to introduce our panelists and share her thoughts on what they will discuss.

Q:  Jeannette – who is on this fabulous MEMS in Medical/QoL panel?

A:  First up is Robert Farra, president & COO of MicroCHIPS (the company you mentioned in your opening). Robert’s product experience covers drug delivery combination products, implantable glucose sensors, life support systems, ventricle assist devices, artificial hearts, intra-aortic balloons and pumps, minimally invasive laparoscopic, and endoscopic and surgical devices, as well as capital equipment and their corresponding single-use devices.

Next up is Paul Gerrish, senior director, technology and design, implantable microsystems technology, Medtronic. What impressed me is that his bio includes a statement that Medtronic’s Implantable organization is “energized by the belief that there is still tremendous opportunity for hardware solutions to contribute toward making a difference in improving the lives of people worldwide.” I love it.

And last but definitely not least is someone from your hometown of Pittsburgh: Ivo Stivoric, CTO & VP of new products, BodyMedia. As one of the original founders, he took his vision for the life-changing BodyMedia technology from conception to launch, first in the medical space and then to consumers. Today Ivo is spearheading the rapid expansion of the product line across a wide-range of healthcare applications such as disease management.

Q: Wow, that is an impressive panel! You will have your hands full moderating the discussion but I am confident that you are up to the task. Let’s talk about some of the issues that you’re going to discuss with the panelists. For example, how is MEMS enabling better health/QoL with regard to prevention, monitoring, management, rehab, and replacement?

A:  MEMS continues to play a critical role in the development of new technologies that assist with patient monitoring, diagnostics, therapy and portable health care. Chronic diseases are an epidemic. It is possible to delay or prevent many chronic diseases associated with obesity and aging by remaining physically active. An activity monitor, for example, is a small device that records information about user’s physical activity patterns throughout the day. MEMS inertial sensors form the basis of many activity monitors that are designed to detect changes in force resulting from motion, tilt, positioning, shock and vibration.

Another possible side effect of aging and obesity is hypertension. MEMS pressure sensors enable the use of blood pressure monitoring conducted at home for the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Inertial sensors are also used to improve QoL for rehab and replacement. Inertial measurements provide motion tracking, posture and gait analysis to help daily movement and flexibility and to enhance athletic performance.

Q: What are your thoughts on where we will be in the next 5-10 years, in terms of MEMS advancing applications in medical/QoL?

A:  Research is currently underway using MEMS technology for many innovative applications such as artificial pancreas, human-like motion for prosthetics, sensor arrays for rapid monitoring and diagnosis at home, and micropumps for drug delivery. MEMS pressure sensors will be used more frequently in invasive medical applications such as catheter tip sensors. While not all of these solutions will be in widespread use due to the rigorous testing required for medical devices, the trend toward using MEMS in health and medical applications will continue to enhance QoL.

Q:  We are seeing a lot about how people are utilizing existing consumer devices (such as smartphones) to monitor their health. What are some examples of how they being adapted for QoL applications?

A:  Existing medical applications such as telehealth gateways are becoming more connected. Telehealth gateways are data aggregators that tie various MEMS sensor solutions with back-end personal health records (PHR) via the cloud. Consumer devices containing MEMS sensors such as smartphones, pedometers, and other activity monitors can monitor activity and then transmit data to the cloud for use by physicians and patients.

As MEMS devices become integrated into healthcare applications, contextual awareness applications become more feasible. Augmented reality applications such as a ‘virtual nurse,’ will allow intuitive and rich interactivity between a patient and their environment and a patient and their medical support team — all in support of improving QoL.

MEMS product development is not for the faint of heart. Though you will see many success stories in the industry, you will also see many failed ventures (did anyone say “telecom bubble?”), several bankruptcies (TeraVicta to name one), gray hair (or no hair), and divorces (sad, but true). And then there are the companies that are just middling along, waiting to break through – we have a duty to help them break out –  now!

That’s why I aptly titled our upcoming 2^nd annual MEMS Industry Group (MIG) workshop with BSAC, on September 19, “MEMS Product Development Challenges – Sweet Dreams and Nightmares.” We have a lot to be proud of in the MEMS industry, but we still have a lot to learn and a lot to improve on in order to grow. We may be a $10B/year industry now; but to get to my dream of “MEMS frickin’ everywhere,” we need to do more.

All year long, MIG’s theme for content and programs has been focused on addressing MEMS product development and commercialization challenges. Our annual technical members meeting, M2M Forum, focused on MEMS new product development and we invited Len Sheynblat of Qualcomm to give a keynote on the real truth about what makes integrating MEMS and sensors into end-use mobile devices so darned hard and complicated: a lack of MEMS standardization. We teased out the differences and nuances between MEMS technology push and market pull; when, what and how it matters and why we should care. We developed a MEMS Technology Development Process Template to help managers navigate the gating process to determine when and if a MEMS device is a GO or NO GO. Additionally, MIG has worked closely with our MIG Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to ensure the content of our MEMS Education Series webinars is focused on MEMS product development.

We also hosted a fantastic one-day pre-conference symposium at Sensors Expo & Conference in June – all focused on, you guessed it – MEMS commercialization challenges. This time we called it “MEMS in the Mainstream: Commercialization and Product Realization – Leveraging the MEMS Infrastructure” (I was feeling less creative that day, I guess).  I am really proud of the folks we invited to speak and present at the Sensors Expo pre-con and MEMS tracks. The presenters all spoke honestly about the sweet dreams and nightmares they experienced while taking a MEMS device through the many stages of development along the MEMS supply chain. Thankfully, the supply chain is a heck of a lot more robust to help shift the odds more towards the “sweet dreams” side of things rather than the nightmaresâ??¦but it’s still critical to keep that honest conversation going and give those case studies about MEMS product development challenges, specifically about MEMS fabrication models.

That is why our September 19 workshop at BSAC is so unique. We will give attendees an inside peek at how some of the best and most impressive MEMS companies have overcome their nightmares and are enjoying some sweet dreams (with occasional scary monsters under the bed and in the closet at times, I am sure). I am thrilled that one of MIG’s Governing Council members, and a really nice guy, the esteemed Dave Monk, MEMS Automotive Sensor Product Manager, Freescale Semiconductor, will present a case study on Freescale’s hybrid model of fabrication: “To Integrate or Not to Integrate: A Case Study on System-in-Package Integration for MEMS-based Products.”

This workshop is especially unique – because for the first time – drum roll please – we will have Knowles Electronics share a case study on their perspective of having a totally fabless model for their MEMS microphones. This is big stuff people. I didn’t have to change the name of my first born to get Knowles to agree to come and present; but it did take some convincing so I hope you will join me to hear Angelo Assimakopoulos Director, New Business Development and his colleague, Eric Lautenschlager, MEMS Engineer Manager, talk about how the magic happens. The third case study will be given by my friend and colleague, Peter Himes, VP Marketing of Silex Microsystems, the worlds’ biggest pure play MEMS foundry (I feel like have been programmed to say that every time I say the word “Silex”). Peter has been working on this presentation all summer – “Foundry: MEMS Product Proliferation and Time to Market: A Foundry’s Perspective on Process Standardization vs. Full Customization”  – and I can’t wait to see it (especially the part with the Swedish chef – right, Pete?).

After the case studies we’ll allow for a very short break and then the fun will begin again. Leslie Field, Consultant, Manager and Founder, Small Tech Consulting will moderate the panel “Successful MEMS Commercialization – Lessons Learned.” Panelists include MIG members  Evgeni Gusev Sr. Director Technology R&D, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies; and Marcellino Gemelli, Senior Marketing Manager, Bosch Sensortec; and BSAC spin-outs Christine Chihfan Ho CTO, Imprint Energy; and Octavian Florescu President, Silicon BioDevices. These four bring very diverse backgrounds and perspectives on what it takes to successfully navigate the commercialization process, including considerations for planning the development of new products. I look forward to hearing how each of them will define “successful commercialization” and how they address the challenges of integrating MEMS into existing applications vs. new products. I also think it will be fun to hear what questions the audience will askâ??¦

I encourage you to join me on September 19 on the UC Berkeley campus – for the workshop, our joint session in the afternoon with BSAC, and finally our mixer/social/cocktail party in the evening (sponsored by ClassOne Equipment – thanks guys!). The early bird registration discount ends on September 6 – so don’t delay! The time for MEMS really is now.

And, if you’re a MIG member, start the party early in Mountain View on September 18 at a Happy Hour we are hosting at Tied House Brewery & Café, sponsored by one of our distinguished industry partners MIPI Alliance.  RSVP today!

Perched on a bluff overlooking the Mohawk River in Niskayuna, NY is a powerhouse of industrial R&D; GE’s Global Research Center (GRC). GRC just celebrated its 110 year anniversary. Thomas Edison’s original desk is on display in the entry lobby to prove this point!

(Click on any of the images below to enlarge them.)

The Niskayuna facility is the largest of several GRCs. GE also has centers in Munich, Germany; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and San Ramon, California.

The history of invention and innovation that has taken place at GRC to create major new businesses was on display as we walked along the entry hall. Some highlighted examples include x-ray medical imaging, jet engines, magnetic resonance imagers, digital x-ray panels and a number of other world firsts. The Research Center in Niskayuna is one of the world’s largest corporate R&D centers that conducts focused, strategic research and development. This is GE — after all — and GE has the demonstrated ability to identify new business opportunities, utilize its research capacity to develop the required technologies in collaboration with GE businesses, and then to grow these businesses globally. As such, the master plan needs significant R&D capability to back it up.

The GRC R&D programs are divided between longer term projects (Advanced Technology programs) and projects that develop technology for one or more GE products in a two to five year time frame. GE business divisions (i.e. GE Aviation, Healthcare, Energy, Oil and Gas, etc.) fund the shorter term, targeted R&D projects and researchers at the Center therefore have an internal business customer. GRC is responsible for meeting the needs of that business, and the businesses frequently visit the Center to review technical progress.

GRC has been conducting research in MEMS since 2002. The objective of this research is to create new MEMS components that are not commercially available and that enable a breakthrough feature or strengthen the value proposition of a GE product. One of the most impressive MEMS devices that I learned about at GRC is a MEMS microswitch — GRC researchers claim this switch to be the fastest switch that acts as a mechanical relay (vs. solid state, semiconductor switches). Through applied and focused R&D, the brilliant scientists at GRC have created a MEMS microswitch that handles over a kilowatt of power (240 Volts AC and 7 Amps). For its industrial applications (just for starters) this MEMS microswitch reduces the time required to interrupt a fault current (short circuit) from milliseconds (the switching speed of conventional circuit breakers) to a few microseconds (for a breaker made from MEMS switches).

It is equally amazing that these researchers were able to utilize a novel set of materials to construct the MEMS switches (GRC’s "secret sauce"). The switch materials and the process flow are compatible with both silicon and quartz substrates, and it may be possible to fabricate these switches on completed CMOS wafers. The novel materials play a key role in enabling the fabrication of the robust, reliable and mega-power-conveying MEMS microswitches. In addition, GRC also does all the failure mode analysis, reliability testing, and most of the packaging for the microswitches; as well as most of the other MEMS they R&D and fab onsite. It’s quite an impressive operation.

Chris Keimel of GRC presented an abstract on the MEMS microswitch at Hilton Head Workshops in June 2012. His paper created a lot of buzz; and as more folks learn about it I am confident that the buzz will turn into a loud roar of applause (maybe this blog will help; I can only humbly hope so!).

Beyond the research being done at universities and research institutes in the US and abroad, I can think of only one other example (in the MEMS field) of a company doing this level of sophisticated commercialization-focused research; Robert Bosch GmbH (and they are privately-held; GE is not).

But what makes GRC unique is that for MEMS, not only do these guys do the R&D at GRC, they also do the pilot volume fabrication. With their new expanded cleanroom facility (nearly 30,000 sq. ft.); they are doing amazingly cool stuff in MEMS. From what I learned on the full head-to-toe bunny suit tour that I had with fab manager, Ron Olson, GRC is fabricating both silicon carbide based power MOSFETs and MEMS for GE at an impressive rate. By no means is this a high-volume fab; but these guys have a sophisticated operation that is able to accommodate both the R&D and the pilot volume needs of GE’s businesses in a single facility.

Lastly, no visit to the facility can be complete without a mention of the beauty of the place. It truly is gorgeous, especially in July (maybe a bit cold in January?). The rate of turnover at GRC is low and I can see why; why would you want to leave this place? You get to work with brilliant scientists, doing great commercially focused R&D, actually manufacture products and live in a beautiful part of the country. As Thomas Edison once stated: "I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give to others." Clearly at GRC Niskayuna, his legacy lives on.

Has the romance between the MEMS and semiconductor industries started to fizzle? Or is the real issue that for new equipment vendors, the appeal and shiny/sexy new-ness of MEMS has faded as they salivate in anticipation of a switch from 300 to 450mm (with all of that sexy, new and expensive semiconductor equipment)?

In 2011, I declared that it was the "the year of MEMS" at SEMICON West in my MEMSblog, because last year, MEMS was everywhere! This year, not so much…

Don’t get me wrong; I love going to SEMICON West. I keep coming back because it’s like homecoming. I can’t walk the halls of Moscone without bumping into dozens of colleagues and MEMS Industry Group (MIG) members. This year it was even more fun, because I was armed with hundreds of adorable MIG stickers that I emblazoned/bedazzled on every MIG member (and future member) I saw.

MEMS was definitely present at SEMICON West this year, and the MIG brand was stronger than ever. MIG had a fabulous MEMS Pavilion, with co-exhibitors IMT, IQE Silicon, n&k Technology, Oxford Instruments, and Xactix. The MIG member lounge inside the pavilion was always full of activity (and fun). The MEMS content on the first day — which I had the honor of moderating — "Taking MEMS to the Next Level: Transitioning to a Profitable High Volume Business" — was chock full of MIG member companies: Applied Materials, Coventor, Hillcrest Labs, NIST, Silex, Teledyne DALSA and Yole Developpement.

And I must humbly add that MIG’s fifth annual member happy hour at LuLu’s was THE BEST frickin’ party at SEMICON West this year. Our party was rockin’ and we have the Flickr photos to prove it. No need for caution in case you were worried:  the photos are all clean and involve no mechanical bulls (pause for the inside joke). It was the best party I attended, and if you think your party was better then you better invite me to your party next year so I can be the judge!

But, sadly, here’s where I must address the feeling I had during SEMICON West that "the love is gone." Much of the content presented at the off-site conferences and workshops I attended had little or no mention of MEMS. And while the underlying reasons may be otherwise, I do wonder, in my heart of hearts, if the growing disconnect between MEMS and the semiconductor industry stems from the latter’s embrace of the migration to 450mm.

To the delight of those who want to enter MEMS manufacturing — or for those who want to stay there — the move to 450mm is in no way a requirement. Companies can manufacture MEMS devices on 200mm wafers just fine, thank you. Does this explain why only a handful of stalwart MEMS device manufacturers were present? Is the zeal for 450mm on behalf of semiconductor equipment vendors (who dominate SEMICON West) responsible for the seemingly fair-weathered friendship between MEMS and the semiconductor industry at SEMICON West or is it an issue worldwide? Share your thoughts with me — and let’s keep this discussion going.

Email Karen Lightman at [email protected]

MEMS in the mainstream — Music to my ears

For the second year in a row, MEMS Industry Group was host to the Sensors Expo Pre-Conference Symposium, and this year’s theme was "MEMS in the Mainstream: Commercialization and Product Realization — Leveraging the MEMS Infrastructure." I felt like a bandmaster — not trying to make the music, just trying to get the band with all its different instruments, rhythms, and tones to harmonize.

It’s not a simple piece to orchestrate, because when you talk about commercialization and product realization and leveraging the micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) infrastructure, you are talking about lots of different perspectives from equipment vendors to materials suppliers, from foundries to device manufacturers (some captive-fab, some fab-lite, some fabless), as well as from end-users and OEMs. Each of these "bands" has its own instrument, its own sheet music, its own style and its own "special sauce." You can see where I am going with this analogy. Like in music, MEMS can either work like a 10-piece orchestra in total sync and harmony, or it can sound like something the cat dragged in!

Thankfully, at our Sensors Expo pre-conference, we sounded a lot more like the 10-piece orchestra. We focused on utilizing the MEMS infrastructure to produce harmonious communication with our customer and our customer’s customers, in order to get the product out in time, at cost, and in the right form factor.

Each of our presenters and panelists shared their own perspectives.  They didn’t always agree (oftentimes they didn’t) and that’s OKAY — because MEMS by its nature is not one-size-fits-all.  Approaching the topic of MEMS foundry models from differing angles, John Chong of Kionix and Rob O’Reilly of Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) both gave fantastic overviews of MEMS foundry models, digging into which approaches work for them and why.

IMT’s Craig Trautman and Silex’s Peter Himes carried the foundry discussion a little further. As foundry companies, they were able to rise above the idea that everyone should go fabless, in support of the diversity and maturity of the MEMS industry. I think Craig summed it up well when he said: "There’s no free lunch. There are pros and cons for various models of MEMS fabrication: fabless vs. captive). As a foundry, we have five customers ‘living’ at IMT. We give them free office space because a lot of the things that we do are really hard. The customer needs to collaborate to make it all work."

I loved hearing from the end-users, and those working closest to the end-users as these are the people who are truly driving the market for MEMS (and our future). As eloquently stated by Jim Clardy of Dell, "I want to avoid end-user scenarios where people have to wave a tablet around to get magnetometer calibrated. Sensors are collecting ambient data. What are the privacy and security concerns? Data must be shared with the cloud. Someone must track the user, his/her location, etc. Whoever controls those ecosystems is going to know A LOT about the end-user. This could be an adoption barrier."

We in the MEMS industry really need to listen to folks like Jim! We need to be thinking about the sensor fusion of all of these sensors; the security of that data; and the human who is interfacing with the device. We need to remember that MEMS is just an instrument. Sitting by itself untouched, it is nothing.  But when it’s played by the right artist, placed in the right band, it can harmonize and make beautiful music. And yes, that is music to my ears.

Contact Karen Lightman, managing director of MEMS Industry Group at [email protected]

What do you think of when I say the words "MEMS new product development?" Do you envision new categories of newly discovered MEMS hatching somewhere in a university lab? If your answer is "yes," perhaps you should rethink that — because MEMS isn’t new. If we are to grow this $9 billion/year industry to a hundred-billion or even trillion dollar industry as some predict, we need to think of new MEMS in terms of how the "regular, everyday" MEMS we have right now are used in development of new end products.  Whether these new MEMS-enabled products come from a combination of market pull and/or technology push, there are challenges and hurdles that the industry must come together to address, now!

That is why we focused the MEMS Industry Group (MIG) Member-to-Member (M2M) Forum on MEMS "New Product Development" earlier in May — because it is so time-critical for the MEMS industry to come together and address these barriers and challenges to commercialization that are hindering growth. Barriers that I like to call the "stickiness of MEMS," which include the "S" word of MEMS — "Standards" for things such as testing, packaging…not the sexy, shiny, bright things that are hatched in the lab and then probably never make it to the market.

I invited Len Sheynblat of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) to give the keynote, "Sensor Systems Integration Challenges," which spelled out in very specific terms what the MEMS industry needs to do, specifically, Sensor API Standardization. He shared QCT’s commonly requested sensor vendors: 18+! With 26+ sensor product lines! And on top of this, there are numerous handset and tablet OEMS with different ecosystems: Android, Windows, RIM (which used to be Palm), etc. They all want to be loved, and this makes developing with MEMS just a smidge complex.

Sounds a bit nightmarish, don’t you think? I sure do, and MIG will be working with our members and strategic partners, including the MIPI Alliance, to address these challenges and issues of the stickiness of MEMS. I urge you to contact me and become active and involved in our M2M Action Item Task Forces.
That’s also why the MIG Technology Advisory Committee (MIG TAC) chose Mary Ann Maher, CEO of SoftMEMS, as the winner of our first-ever white paper competition, because she discussed the important issue of co-design and yes, standards. And because Mary Ann was the evening speaker, she also made the presentation into a drinking game. (Every time she said "co-design," you were to take a sip; I gave up after the 15th time.)

And as we have every year, since MIG began with DARPA funding, we also had working groups to dive deeper into the conference topic. Our working group leaders (Jim Knutti of Acuity, Mike Mignardi of TI, Jason Tauscher of MicroVision and Valerie Marty of HP) did a fantastic job of moderating the rich discussions we had in the working group breakout groups on "Market Pull vs. Technology Push" and "MEMS Technology Development." I encourage you to check out the MIG resource library to see the body of knowledge and case studies we’ve gathered; and MIG action item task forces will be forming soon to carry out several of the recommendations.

M2M Forum also featured a panel of speakers expressing diverse opinions and perspectives on new product commercialization — from those involved heavily and not so heavily with MEMS. The panel included: Anne Schneiderman of Harris Beach, an expert in IP law; Stefan Finkbeiner, a MEMS device manufacturing veteran with Bosch/Akustica; Matt Apanius with SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems, who is well versed in tech transfer from lab to fab; and Ivo Stivoric with BodyMedia, someone who embodies a MEMS supplier’s dream of an end-user company.

My favorite part of the panel was when Ivo described the challenges in understanding/analyzing the "white space in the market." He warned that as a consumer of MEMS, he oftentimes doesn’t need a new device; he just needs a tweak or two and then wants the device manufacturer to "just go away" so he can go back to his customers. Amen, brother. I want that for you, too. Because the truth is that MEMS isn’t new, and so we need to find the solutions to these challenges to commercialization, and then move on to conquer the other white space in the market.

Contact Karen Lightman, managing director of MEMS Industry Group at [email protected]

ST’s Carmelo Papa boldly declared that "MEMS is only limited by the imagination" during his opening keynote at MEMS Executive Congress Europe.  In many ways this phrase exemplifies the conference itself. All of the speakers on our four panels  — industrial, biomedical/Quality of Life (QoL), automotive and consumer — as well as our keynotes — conveyed that frontier feeling that MEMS can truly change the world. Sure we have some challenges to overcome (the biggest being packaging), but the potential of having MEMS (frickin’) everywhere is a very tangible reality.

Thankfully the media who attended the Congress Europe have already done an impressive job of highlighting the panelists’ and keynotes’ more technical points. (Please refer to our Congress press coverage for the growing list of stories.)  So instead of retelling you who said what regarding which ISO qualification, I’ll use this blog to give you the more colorful side of the Congress (shocking disclosure, I know).  And speaking of color, MIG’s Monica Takacs did a great job of capturing the Congress in pictures and we’ve posted them on our Flickr site; you will want to check it out.

I am going to give you a taste of the Congress by sharing with you my favorite quotes, saving my very favorite for last. I’ll start with one by our opening keynote, Carmelo Papa. When Carmelo was talking "off the ST script," his playful Italian personality made him a crowd favorite. Like when he said that he couldn’t reveal ST’s biggest customer "even under torture," but he’d give us some hints: "It is green, round and delicious to eat." What a great way to describe Apple.  I also liked how he described MEMS as the "mouse for portable devices" as it enables a new realm of gesture.

My next favorite quote was from VTI’s Hannu Laatikainen.  I began to think of him as a "Finnish Haiku Poet" when he said that we needed to "treat the car more like a human that can see, feel, hear, smell and taste." Great stuff. I absolutely enjoyed hearing every single word coming out of the mouth of Dr. Berger of Clinatec and it wasn’t just because I am a sucker for a French accent. I loved his description of connecting technology with medicine and his passion for patient health, safety and welfare.  He urged that there must be more money for clinical trials of technology for medical treatment to prove efficacy (not just money for consumer-inspired sport applications masking as healthcare products). I couldn’t agree more.

I laughed when Stefan Finkbeiner introduced himself and stated that his company, Akustica, hailed from Pittsburgh, the "MEMS center of the US." Stefan then modified the statement by saying that Pittsburgh is the "MEMS capital of Pennsylvania" and "definitely the MEMS capital of Western PA." My hometown is a lot of things, but not yet the MEMS capital of the US.

But my absolute favorite quote from MEMS Executive Congress Europe came from Continental’s Bernhard Schmid. When someone from the audience asked the panelists if visual sensors will replace MEMS on automotive, Bernhard responded with a rhetorical question: "Have the eyes cannibalized the ears? No. Both senses/sensors are needed for smart automotive." I guess he was inspired by Hannu’s earlier comment about the car’s senses being more human. I wouldn’t have expected such eloquence from a bunch of automotive engineering executives.  But like the Congress in general, these guys impressed and surprised me.
MEMS Executive Congress Europe was a fantastic success. I was expecting 100 attendees; we had 155. I thought we had a handful of sponsors; we had over 30.

While pausing momentarily to reflect on the highlights of our European event, my staff and I are looking forward to building the content for this year’s upcoming MEMS Executive Congress US in Scottsdale (November 7-8). And yes, we are looking at another Congress event in Europe in 2013 and possibly in Asia as well.

By design, MEMS Executive Congress is unique in the industry. Involving only minimal bribery (just the chocolate in Zurich at our European event!), we have been fortunate to engage MEMS suppliers and their end-user customers in thoughtful, sometimes spirited discussions about the use of MEMS in commercial applications. With our success in both the US and now in Europe, MIG is meeting a need in the market. Good thing it’s also lots of fun.

— Karen Lightman, Managing Director of the MEMS Industry Group.