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Welcome

Welcome to the first edition of the e-newsletter for COMS 2006, the 11th annual conference on Commercialization of Micro and Nano Systems, to be held in beautiful St. Petersburg, FL, USA, August 27th - 31st, 2006. MANCEF and Small Tech in the Sunshine will be publishing periodic newsletters to bring you up to date on recent developments as the conference evolves. Check your latest edition of the newsletter or click on www.mancef-coms2006.org for the latest updates on speakers, sponsors, and events.

Program Highlights

We have listened to the community and this year we promise a COMS full of networking opportunities and information exchange from the key users of small technology. We are also working hard to bring you examples of the challenges that others have faced in commercializing these disruptive technologies. We have highlighted regional co-operation and the mutual success of government, academic, and commercial entities. Some program highlights include:

The influence of the NAFTA trade agreement will be demonstrated by keynote sessions from Dr. Dennis Polla, DARPA program manager, Dan Gale, VP and CTO of Canada’s CMC Microsystems, and Guillermo Fernandez de la Garza, Executive Director of the US-Mexico Foundation for Science. Come hear how DARPA in the USA, CMC Microsystems in Canada, and FUMEC in Mexico helped foster new technology and create vibrant small technology communities in the Americas.

From the Edmonton cluster and co-hosts of COMS2004, Leigh Hill and Bruce Alton of Micralyne (winner of the COMS2005 Best paper on Infrastructure development for MNT) will also speak about how the city of Edmonton and Micralyne have succeeded in a sometimes difficult industry, rebounding from the telecom crash to become a shining example of the commercialization of disruptive technology .

Another COMS2005 award winner, Dan Hyman (Best paper on Commercialization of MNT) of X-Com Wireless will return to discuss how X-Com has leveraged a novel approach to design and implementation using a fabless semiconductor model.

Anyone working in the MNT field will not want to miss Microtec's Robert Mehalso's presentation: A Killer App for MEMS. As a leader in implementing MNT in consumer and volume applications, Fred Van Roosmalen from Philips will be giving an overview of their work in exploiting this lucrative market.

Magnus Rimskog of Silex and Job Elders of C2V will talk about the lessons learned on the path to becoming successful MNT enterprises, complete with examples of successful commercialization efforts. If you need to know how to be successful in Micro and Nano technologies, these are the folks to meet!

Leaders from the National Lab programs in the USA and Germany will demonstrate how a strong national or regional program can lead the creation of healthy clusters of MNT commercialization. Marion Scott from Sandia will discuss the role of government labs in the commercialization efforts, and Gabi Fernholz will present on Industrialization at VDI/VDE.

Of course, there are too many exciting speakers, panels, and presentations to highlight all of them here. We'll feature other regions and speakers in upcoming editions of the COMS Newsletter so please check back often.

Those are a few of the excellent speakers already lined up; but we do still have spaces open, so if you are interested in participation in COMS2006 please submit your abstract ASAP to abstracts@mancef-coms2006.org

Abstracts are being solicited for the following topics:

Industry and business models
Niche and high volume applications
The role of roadmaps
Packaging, integration and prototyping commercialization issues
Development of reliability and standards
Equipment, test, and design developments
Social implications of nanotechnology
The role of venture capitalists/angels
The role of governments, development agencies and universities
Building successful MNT regional clusters
Education and workforce development
Emerging applications
Commercialization using HARMST/LIGA
Next generation of small technologies

We have a unique and exciting social program lined up; The annual COMS golf tournament, a chance to head out to the open water for a deep-sea fishing adventure, art galleries, Busch Gardens, and of course the lovely beaches of Florida's coast.

About COMS

The International Conference on the Commercialization of Micro and Nano Systems (COMS) is the leading annual conference on micro and nanotechnology commercialization education. It brings together leaders in the field from across the world, representing organizations and companies from almost every sector of the community. These include leading industrialists, end users, researchers, equipment vendors, customers, VC and angel investors, educators, media, professional organizations, and government. The small tech community gathers at COMS conferences to learn from others, share their own knowledge, and discuss and debate points of view - all of which contribute to the advancement of this emerging field. For everyone concerned about future economic and business development through the exploitation of MNT, COMS 2006 is a conference that cannot be missed. Further information on the conference can be found on the web site: http://www.mancef-coms2006.org/

We look forward to seeing you In St. Petersburg!

The MANCEF and Small Tech in the Sunshine Inc, joint organizing committee