COMS 2018

Summary of COMS 2018 – Commercialisation of Emerging Technologies

David Tolfree, Vice President MANCEF

The 22nd edition of COMS International was held at the Suisse Majestic Grand Hotel in the historic and picturesque city of Montreux, on the shore of beautiful Lake Geneva, from 24-26 September 2018. 

The conference was co-organised by MANCEF – Micro, Nano and Emerging Technologies Commercialisation Education Foundation and FSRM – Swiss Foundation for Research in Microtechnology. It was opened with welcome addresses from the conference chair, Dr. Volker Saile of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and President of MANCEF, the co-Chair, Philippe Fischer, Director of FSRM and the Programme Chair, Todd Christenson, Chairman & CTO, HT MicroAnalytical Inc. on behalf of the organisers, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers.

A traditional pre-conference entrepreneurial workshop (bootcamp) took place on 24 September with expert entrepreneurs who were available to advise and assist startup companies or individuals wishing to acquire funding and guidance to make their companies commercially successful. This is an essential first step on the path to commercialisation. 

The two-day technical programme was divided into four main sessions with topics covering Manufacturing, Sensors, Industry 4.0/Digital Health and Commercialisation, each with plenary talks given by eight invited keynote speakers.  

A total of forty-six speakers from nine countries covered the latest developments in customised and new smart manufacturing processes and methods, robotics, new sensor systems, smart networks, data analytics, digital health, bioinformatics and barriers to commercialisation in the marketplace.

More highlights of COMS2018 can found via the following link: