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Last update 12th April 2008
NEXUS is a non profit Association headquartered in
Contact:
The Nexus Association,
c/o CSEM,
Jaquet-Droz 1,
2002 Neuchâtel,
Switzerland
E-Mail: infos@nexus-mems.com
Tel: +41 (0)32 720 5535
Fax: +41 (0)32 720 5765
On Monday 10th April 2008 The Nexus Association with the support of the European Commission hosted a Microfluidics experts workshop.
Pan European experts took the afternoon to debate on how to overcome technical and commercial barriers to exploitation of micro-biofluidic chips that were highlighted iduring the first workshop in November 2007 and recommend future actions to eliminate or reduce such barriers. Three parallel workshops were planned Chipscale, Integration and Commercialisation. Many topics were covered including Time-to-market, different materials, Quality Control, testing, intellectual property rights, public acceptance and venture capital issues.
Marketing issues were also discussed and soon it was very clear that the microfluidic market is extremely diverse e.g. many areas, many applications and many different technologies. The discussion mainly focused on the Pharma/Medical market, more specifically drug delivery, diagnostic tools and Point of Care systems. There is a very high amount of research activity exploring many new materials and production methods with polymers versus more conventional materials like silicon and glass.
There is much collaboration between SMEs and research institutes as the microfluidic development and manufacturing involves a broad range of engineering and scientific disciplines. There is a lot of room for improvements in multi-discipline engineering training (Physics, Chemistry and Bio).
The event was co-facilitated by The Nexus Association and two leading European Consultants, enablingMNT and 4M2C.
The Nexus Association Annual General Meeting (AGM)
The Nexus AGM was held on Monday 10th December at the Systems Engineering Innovation Centre (SEIC), Loughborough, England. The Agenda was agreed by the Nexus steering committee and can be found here.
NEXUSPLUS FP7 brokerage events 2007
NEXUS (through the NEXUSPLUS project) was asked by the EC to organise a series of FP7 Events in different countries in collaboration with partner networks and other projects. The agenda included presentations by speakers representing the European Commission, EPoSS, Euripides, NEXUS, MINOS, current FP6 SMEs and an overview of IP (Intellectual Property) changes between FP6 and FP7. These presentations were be followed by a brokerage forum to allow interested parties to discuss specific interests to work together in forming potential new proposals for upcoming EC calls.
The following events have taken place:
MINOS/NEXUS brokerage event on FP7 calls in 2007, 22nd - 23rd Mar 07,
This event, supported by NEXUS, MINAM, IPPMAN and MINOS-EURONET projects, was e focused on NMP topics (22 March 2007) and ICT topics (23 March 2007), respectively. The programme was composed of presentations by representatives of the European Commission, European Technological Platforms on-going European projects in FP6 and poster sections for interaction between participants.
The above event was preceded and followed by on-line brokerage. The on-line brokerage was useful by itself. On the other hand, the same electronic platform may be used for other brokerage events, too, provided that the topics (calls) are covered. A search mechanism will provide to you the relevant information in a matter of seconds ! This mechanism is already operating, you have to register and you will find immediately relevant samples of information.
More information: www.minos-euro.net/brokerage
NEXUSPLUS FP7 brokerage event hosted by UK CEMMNT Project, 2nd May 2007, Loughborough, UK
The Centre of Excellence in Metrology for Micro and Nano Technologies (CEMMNT) celebrated its official launch on Wednesday, 2 May 2007, at the Systems Engineering Innovation Centre (SEIC) in
NEXUS/PATENT-DfMM Workshop on Design for Reliability and Manufacturability in MNT, 24th April 2007, Stresa,
This event was co-organised by the NEXUS Methodology Working Groups "Reliability & Test" and "Design Modelling Simulation" and PATENT-DfMM. Main emphasis was on reliability and test problems, where design methodologies can lead to significant improvements. The workshop discussed how to leverage the design, reliability and test communities over the coming years for the benefit of European competitiveness; this included the need for new European and International collaborative initiatives. In addition, further industry demand for advances in Design, Reliability and Test capability were addressed. More information has been published at www.patent-dfmm.org
NEXUSPLUS FP7 brokerage event at the Sensor & Test Exhibition/Conference, 24th May 2007 in
This brokerage event was co-organised by WTC, NEXUS’ Roadmapping partner. Although it was hoped for a larger attendance/audience, the quality of the attendees and presentations was excellent. Presentations were given on behalf of the EC, WTC and NEXUS followed by technical presentations by companies and research institutes looking for partners in FP7 projects. After the presentations there was much discussion about current and future collaborations both within the EC integrated projects and amongst local ‘Cluster’ groups.
The Second NEXUS/MINOS Event, at The
Following the success of the joint event held in
Further events are planned – if you are interested in co-organising / co-hosting, please contact the NEXUS office.
Please contact the NEXUS office at: info@nexus-mems.com
President: Thomas Hinderling (CSEM)
Chairman:
Vice-Chairman: Patric Salomon (4M2C)
Treasurer: David Holden (CEA-LETI)
The following members were also elected unanimously to the Steering Committee:
Andrew Richardson (
Henning Wicht (WTC)
Thereon, with the office relocated in
Nexus lives and will, with these new initiatives, refocus its efforts and find again a way to improve its service to all members.
Regular updates and latest information will be given through the NEXUS Email newsletter (E-zine) and on the website. Please register for the E-zine at: registration.asp
Chairman, Nexus Association
