You can check out the Website to see who also spoke at the conference - it's an impressive list. Some of my favorite speakers were the ones who spoke on topics relevant to MEMS (not that I have anything against nanoparticles that reflect dirt, mind you).
I was wowed by Jeff Kraws, CEO of Crystal Research Associates. Kraws is an industry expert in healthcare technologies and had just left the set of CBS for an upcoming episode on 60 Minutes to join the conference. While much of his talk was about US healthcare and healthcare spending, my eyes lit up when I heard him talk about the need for medicine/healthcare to improve quality of life and help people live longer. He talked about the need to utilize technology to help people take "back" their healthcare decisions and improve their own quality of life. Yup, and guess what? MEMS will make that happen.
I was also uber-impressed by the presentation by Andreas Schierenbeck, president of Siemens Industry, Building Technology Division. I loved the fact that he mentioned MEMS several times in his talk, and he also said he saw a need for "MEMS frickin' everywhere."
He described zero net buildings -- yes, with MEMS inside! He said Siemens is working on buildings that "could work for you" -- smart buildings that could sell, use, or store energy. He said what's missing is MEMS, integrating them with intelligence -- the building is the missing link to a smart grid.
Schierenbeck discussed how to "shift" the energy load of not just buildings, but also cities, and he gave the example of the first zero emissions city -- Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. He encouraged the room of investors to consider the market potential for energy efficiency. "It is feasible, and it makes sense." His parting words were that if you don't measure it (energy use), you can't fix the problem, change behavior, and save money.
And, in my opinion, that means more MEMS yes frickin' everywhere.
@Rob - thanks for the comment. I think I answered the first part of your question in my other responses. But for your second question, MEMS is truly an international and very diversified industry that spans a spectrum of markets and applications. Therefore you'll find MEMS companies and companies in the MEMS supply chain everywhere. That being said, there are some hubs of MEMS around the world. In the US, they are in Silicon Valley (mainly) followed by Boston; as well as in Texas (Dallas/Austin); AZ (Phoenix/Tempe); PA (Pittsburgh - my hometown); to name a few... Internationally, Europe is a hot-bed for MEMS and that is why we are hosting our first MEMS Executive Congress Europe on 20.March in Zurich - www.memscongress.com for more info - we are featuring ONLY EU speakers and keynotes at this senior-level event.
@Dave - YES - MEMS is big in consumer - that's why CEA invited us (MEMS Industry Group - MIG) to host the first-ever MEMS TechZone at CES this week: http://www.memsindustrygroup.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=4057
and you can also see the aforementioned MEMS in Machine for a bigger list.
@Charles - I am pretty sure that those MEMS accelerometers are in nearly EVERY laptop now - they were originally in IBM laptops (when IBM made laptops!) but now b/c of the pricepoint I am pretty sure you'll see it in most. Now laptops have other MEMS inside of them, including MEMS microphones. You may want to check out the MEMS Industry Group (MIG) list of "MEMS in the machine" to see where else you can find MEMS:
@Alex Your post is making me blush. Thank you for the kind words and yes, I will try to be more bold in my exclamations of how amazingly frickin' awesome MEMS is; just like in "the Graduate" when the old guy gave advice to Dustin Hoffman, instead of "Plastics" one should invest in MEMS; it truly will be everywhere. See you at CES!
I recall that MEMS-based accelerometers we're supposed to get big in laptops, as a means of shutting down a hard drive when the computer falls. Any sense of what percentage of laptops now use this technology?
Author Karen Lightman is being too modest. She's a MEMS heavyweight herself, as Managing Director of the MEMS Industry Group. I refer you to her bio, here. The MEMS events sponsored by the group, which will take place the week of Jan. 8 at CES in Las Vegas, are listed here.
I have a couple questions about the trajectory of MEMS. First, in what industries is MEMS getting traction. I would imagine health care equipment would be huge. Are there other industries that are going full steam?
I know that the Silicon Valley companies are still attractive to venture capitalists. To some extent Silicon Valley has the benefit of a physical center. People living in the same neighborhood get to know each other. Is there a geographical center for MEMS that helps boost investment and adoption?
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