More laboratories and trained personnel are required if the 
microsystems technology industry is to flourish, the Institute of Microsystems Technology (Imtek) at Germany’s University of Freiburg’s Professor Jan Korvink avers.

Microsystems technology brings together various disciplines – from mechanics, optics, fluidics
 and polymer electronics to new materials – and has application in a range of industries, from automotive through to energy.

Korvink says that when skilled engineers are not burdened with an overload of work, owing to a shortage of staff, they should become more inventive, and the products they design will be of a better quality.

High-quality equipment is 
required for specialised laboratories, and students should be sponsored to work in the state-of-the-art facilities to ensure a continual flow of new ideas and innovations.

“It is essential that hostels be built on the premises for graduate students to be close to their working environment,” he remarks.

Korvink adds that such investments should be backed by training programmes to help students move up the ranks and build on their knowledge base.

Imtek has a design laboratory 
where it gives students assignments to prickle their brains. The professors do lead them through their experiments, but there is no right or wrong answer for the 
experiments they are given.

“We lead them, but we push creativity from nothing to combine the knowledge they already have to create rational designs and then they have to sell their ideas to us,” he explains.

The institute has 18 faculty and over 200 research and technical staff, and focuses on all technical 
fields relevant to microsystems 
technology.

Engineering News reported previously that microsystems technologies are becoming smaller, lighter and more effective, and are replacing many traditional technologies in high-tech products.

The innovations are changing the performance and functionality 
of products and their manufacturing processes.

Companies developing micro-
systems technology and nanotechnology seek to improve products and methods of production and make them more cost effective.

“By encouraging the use of 
microsystems technology, these companies can help widen technical horizons, make product manufacturing more efficient and, ultimately, improve competitive ability,” says Dr Uwe Kleinkes, who represents an association of companies and institutes in the field of microsystems technology.