Attendees hail inaugural MEMS in Motion event

SOUTH PORTLAND, USA: Participants of the inaugural edition of the MEMS in Motion Collaboration Summit came away enthusiastic about the event's innovative format.

"Delegates told us over and over that MEMS in Motion provided a casual and comfortable platform for collaborative discussions and relationship building like no other event in the industry," says Brian Perkins, partner at Highliner Events. The event was produced by Highliner Events and hosted by Yole Développement.

Held at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, CA, MEMS in Motion drew industry trend-setters from 40 companies, including Honeywell Aerospace, Northrup Grumman, Nokia and Apple.

"Eight of the participating inertial device companies are on the Yole 2010 Top 30 MEMS Players ranking," Perkins explains. "Just Robert Bosch, STMicroelectronics, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell, VTI Technologies, InvenSense, Kionix and Murata alone represent $1.95 billion in MEMS sector sales. And delegates from each of these companies were intimately involved in the more than 300 meetings that took place during the two days of the event.

"What sets MEMS in Motion apart from other events is its focus on a variety of interactive functions designed to encourage multiple one-on-one conversations, while minimizing the number of "talking-head presentations," Perkins says. Ice-breaker "speed-dating" sessions, scheduled meetings facilitated through the MEMS DealCenter management tool, and a host of social activities delivered not only large numbers of meetings, but meetings of exceptional depth and quality which become the basis for long-term business relationships.

Tom Flynn of Coventor echoed Perkins' explanation. "At some conferences you have "speakers" and you have "listeners;" it's presentation after presentation after presentation and it's a bit dry. MEMS in Motion forced an interaction between people. In my opinion, these tend to be more productive meetings. It was nice to meet a number of key figures in the industry, and get a better sense of what they're doing."

John Brashear, VectorNav, agreed with Flynn. At MEMS in Motion. "You're able to meet one-on-one with some of the most prominent people in the industry-for a small company like ours, that's huge. It's hard to get even five or ten minutes with a large company. This type of event forces all of the participants to intermingle and allows everyone to see everything that's out there. For example, I met with a major silicon manufacturer who I otherwise wouldn't have been able to connect with. I would definitely recommend MEMS in Motion; it's a different way of doing business that you're going to see a lot more of in the future."

Kevin Shaw of Sensor Platforms shared the delegates' enthusiasm for the MEMS in Motion platform. "I loved it. Everywhere I turned, I met somebody new who was doing some really great stuff in the field, doing exciting things. I was able to meet a lot of people and actually talk to them. I will absolutely dedicate the time and make sure that I attend MEMS next time."

"Strong sponsor support for our inaugural event was important validation for the concept," Perkins explains. "Kionix came on board early as our platinum sponsor. Additional sponsors included Acutronic, tronics, MNX, SoftMEMS, Movea, InvenSense, freescale, STMicroelectronics, Tystar, MEPTEC, MIG and of course, Yole Développement as our host."

The next MEMS in Motion Collaboration Summit, once again hosted by Yole Développement, is scheduled for September 12-13, 2012, returning to the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, CA.