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Synergetic Process Integration for Efficient Micro and Nano Manufacture

Final Report Summary - MSAPIENT (Synergetic Process Integration for Efficient Micro and Nano Manufacture)

The driving forces, business needs and requirements behind the establishment of this consortium were the necessity to broaden the range of microsystems-based products and at the same time to multiply their capabilities by introducing new materials and processes that are reasonably compatible with currently broadly used Integrated circuit (IC)-based, batch-fabrication processes.

The MSAPIENT project has aimed to create a far more focused and sustainable European-wide infrastructure for coordination of research activities, linking of relevant national and international projects, organisations and initiatives and dissemination and promotion of results in facilitating a new level of synergetic integration of micro- and nano- manufacturing technologies in support of a number of critical European Union (EU) sectors.

In delivering the MSAPIENT and MINAM roadmaps and Strategic research agendas (SRAs), the project has provided a strategic European vision embedding specific national and sectorial perspectives critical to the sustainability of Micro- and nano-technologies (MNT) research and application in Europe. By identifying gaps in emerging MNT, it has also helped to inform future funding priorities at a high level for the sector.

The MSAPIENT project has also been responsible for the creation of the project website: http://www.microsapient.org and the production and publishing of the project newsletter 'MNT future vision', both of which have been aligned with MINAM, thus ensuring that many of the activities will be ongoing. In addition, the involvement of partners in a number of relevant conferences and workshops has contributed effectively to dissemination and networking activities across the community.

Finally, the MSAPIENT project has played a major role in the establishment of the MINAM platform. Micro- and nano-manufacturing is a highly resource and knowledge intensive sector and capitalising on the latest technological developments can only be achieved by a concerted effort of industrial stakeholders, research and academic organisations and public bodies. The MINAM SRA has and will further outline key challenges and research priorities with the objective of accelerating the development of new micro- and nano-manufacturing technologies and their rapid transformation from laboratory based prototypes into volume manufacturing applications.

The key achievements of the MSAPIENT project include:
- two editions of micro-nano-manufacturing technology roadmap which were delivered on time and used for formulating the relevant sections of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and related calls for proposals;
- two versions of the MINAM SRA and vision;
- a number of brokerage and dissemination events organised and sponsored;
- a functional and informative web portal established and managed;
- micro-nano-manufacturing newsletter published jointly with other consortia as a MINAM newsletter;
- clear strategy, plans and delivery of special interest groups in micro-nano-manufacturing;
- a set of promotional activities carried out including presentation at key EU, United States, Japan and Korea forums.

Overall, the project has achieved its objectives and delivered useful value for money results in terms of coordination and consolidation of EU wide research effort in the area of micro- and nano-manufacturing. A lasting legacy of the MSAPIENT project is the formation of the MINAM Technology Platform in micro- and nano-manufacturing, the EU MINAM SRA and supporting roadmapping activities.