MEMS industry execs see convergence in MEMS for automotive, consumer, medical and energy markets

PITTSBURGH, USA: MEMS industry execs attending the annual MEMS Executive Congress last week were rapt by presentations and panel discussions by leading innovators in automotive, bio/medical, consumer electronics, mobile communications and energy.

Buoyed by optimistic forecasts for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices such as accelerometers and multi-axis gyros—increasingly used in mobile handsets and video games—they engaged with keynote speaker Dr. Mauro Ferrari, professor and director of The Division of NanoMedicine and Deputy Chairman of The University of Texas Department of Biomedical Engineering, whose proteomic NanoChips and multi-stage drug-delivery systems may one day ‘cure cancer.’

“We set an attendance record at this year’s MEMS Executive Congress and attracted an impressive global audience to boot!” exclaimed Karen Lightman, managing director of MEMS Industry Group, the event’s host organization.

“In part, it’s because we are experiencing a technology convergence in MEMS: sensors made for automobiles—extremely complex systems requiring the highest levels of safety and reliability—are being used for healthcare devices such as heart monitors and 3D motion tracking. MEMS-based energy harvesters are being utilized in consumer and industrial systems, and they may one day be used in more energy-efficient, even all-electric, automobiles. And with MEMS sensors opening up greater data collection, we will one day see things we haven’t even imagined in applications such as mobile phones.”