Micro- and nanomanufacturing strategic research agenda

The presented strategic research agenda (SRA) is a product of the concerted effort of the European Micro- and Nanomanufacturing technology platform MINAM. The MINAM platform has been created to support the European manufacturers and equipment-suppliers in the field of manufacturing micro- and nanotechnology products in establishing and maintaining a worldwide leadership in key technology areas. The driving forces, business needs and requirements behind the establishment of the MINAM are defined by the necessity to broaden the range of the microsystems-based products and at the same time to multiply their capabilities by the introduction of new materials and processes. As a platform MINAM aims to create a far more focussed 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 to facilitate a new level of integration of micro- and nanomanufacturing technologies in support of a number of critical EU sectors. The establishment of the MINAM platform has been facilitated by the coordinated actions projects Micro-Sapient and IPMMAN and the Network of Excellence 4M all funded by the 6th European research progamme (FP6) in priority area of "Nanotechnology and Nanosciences, Knowledge-Based Multifunctional Materials and New Production Processes and devices" (NMP). The MINAM SRA addresses several key areas: manufacturing of nanomaterials, processing of nanosurfaces, micromanufacturing processes and integrated systems and platforms for micro- and nanomanufacturing. The outlined trends and research and development priorities are illustrated with examples from key industrial sectors in Europe. Micro- and nanomanufacturing 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. A key objective of the MINAM SRA is to identify emerging trends and provide strategic directions for future investment in research and development aimed at sustaining and further enhancing the leading positions of the European industry in this dynamic and highly competitive market. In particular, the SRA outlines key challenges and research priorities with the objective of accelerating the development of new micro- and nanomanufacturing technologies and their rapid transformation from laboratory based prototypes into volume manufacturing applications