The 2020 MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card: Impact of Covid
Roger Grace Associates announced the availability of its complimentary MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card Study Final Report. The 2020 MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card: Impact of Covid provides not only the results vis-à-vis letter grade but additionally detailed verbatim comments on each of the Report Card subjects from its respondents and offers insightful recommendations and guidance for the adopting of strategies to best accelerate commercialization success . Also provided is information into the background of the Report Card including the motivation of this well-respected and frequently referenced annual study’s creation and the process by which it has been conducted annually since 1998. The 2020 Report Card was of special significance since it addressed the impact of Covid on the 14 Report Card grades a.k.a. critical success factors and provides recommendations and guidance as to how to best mitigate its effects in the future. The overall grade remained at B- and five individual subjects had grade changes.
The purpose of the Report Card has been to track and monitor the progress (or lack thereof) of the MEMS industry in its efforts to successfully commercialize the technology. The 14 subjects a.k.a. critical success factors, developed by Mr. Grace, were judged by the respondents of the study and requested not only to provide letter grades…but to provide personal verbatims as to grade rationale. This year’s report is especially poignant since it addresses how Covid has affected the subjects. Subjects whose grades changed from the previous year included Infrastructure, R & D, Market Research, Profitability and VC attraction. Surprisingly, Profitability and VC attraction increased one grade level and the rationale behind this came out strongly in the many verbatims received. Respondents shared how Covid impacted their businesses and how they successfully mitigated its effects by pivoting and adapting to the “new normal”.
Mr. Grace stated, “Again I used the popular Delphi approach to conduct the survey wherein I received inputs from a small number, and in this case 42, individual MEMS experts. The respondents had an average of 25 years of experience which equated to over 1000 person-years of experience. Most of the respondents have participated in the Report Card research for several years in the past and as such we are seeing the true value of how they commercialization process has changed. I consider it most interesting that the overall grade level has remained at B-, which it has done so for the past six years, thus demonstrating the mature nature of MEMS commercialization efforts. However, five of the individual subject grades changed.
He continued…” this year’s Report Card was especially interesting since we received a higher-than-normal level of verbatim responses from the participants and especially ones directed to how the Covid has affected their businesses and the mechanisms that they have adopted in an attempt to mitigate these effects.” Of particular note was the “pivoting” by many respondents from trade shows and direct customer visits which were effectively replaced by virtual conferences and virtual meetings and social media approaches. I believe that the upcoming 2022 Report Card will also be of great interest and value to the MEMS community since many of the problems including supply chain, encumbered personal meetings and travel are expected to continue to exist throughout 2021”.
A presentation of the Report Card Final Report is scheduled to presented at MANCEF’s China Comet (virtual) Conference on November 22/23, 2021. For more information visit www.mancef.org.