MEMS community can participate in commercialization study
March 12, 2014. Roger Grace Associates, a strategic marketing consultancy specializing in the commercialization of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), has announced the opportunity to the MEMS community to participate in its annual study that has charted the progress MEMS technology commercialization since 1998. The study, which relies on 14 critical success factors, or grades, quantitatively assesses the progress of MEMS technology and requests participants to provide rationales for these grades assigned. The Report Card has been an important vehicle to assist the MEMS community to better understand the factors inhibiting growth and provides recommendations to overcome these issues. Participants in the study, which only takes less than 15 minutes to complete, will be given the opportunity to win one of two $100 AMEX gift cards as well as be provided with a copy of the final report. The debut of the results of the Report Card study will occur at the upcoming Smart Systems Integration Conference (www.smartsystemsintegration.com) to be held in Vienna, Austria. Interested participants are requested to visit the Roger Grace Associates website (www.rgrace.com) to access the Report Card.
Grace stated, “Barriers to the commercialization of every industry and technology exist…MEMS are no exception. In his 1954 Journal of Applied Physics article, Charles Smith of Bell Labs notes the first manifestation of MEMS to be the discovery of the piezoresistive effect in germanium and silicon. Additionally, it has been over 30 years since Kurt Petersen, in his seminal IEEE Proceedings article on 'Silicon as a Mechanical Material' reported on many of the novel MEMS devices that we are now only being produced in high volumes. The IC industry, which was founded well within a decade of the Smith discovery in 1954, has attained a worldwide sales volume exceeding $310 billion (US) in 2013 per Gartner Research, whereas the MEMS market has been estimated by several firms in the $8 to $10 billion range…. This constitutes a greater than 30-1 ratio! As we have experienced more than a half-century of MEMS research, design, and development, many people ask… “Why has it taken so long for the MEMS technology to realize its potential or reach true commercialization?” The study attempts to address this paradox vis-a-vis the 14 critical success factors that I have developed and consider to be the major barriers to the commercialization of MEMS. It addresses the progress made to date to overcome these barriers through the introduction of a 'MEMS Commercialization Report Card' for the year 2013. Some of the topics addressed include: R&D, marketing, infrastructure development, management expertise, creation of wealth, and profitability. The report card has been updated and presented yearly since 1998, where I first gave it at the prestigious Hilton Head Conference, and continues to be anticipated and given yearly to many enthusiastic and appreciative audiences worldwide.”
Roger Grace Associates, founded in 1982, is headquartered in Naples, FL, and provides comprehensive strategic marketing, strategic communications, and business development services to domestic and overseas high-technology-based clients. The firm specializes in the commercialization of technology in the semiconductor, semiconductor equipment, Nano and MEMS/MST/Micromachine marketplaces.