Preface
On behalf of the 4M Association it is our pleasure to welcome you all to Austria for the 4M2012 conference. This year the conference is held in Vienna, where the conference will take place in the modern surroundings of the Euro Plaza. Our hosts and local organisers are jointly FOTEC Forschungs- und Technologietransfer GmbH and the Vienna University of Technology (TUWien).
FOTEC is the research subsidiary of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt (FHWN). FOTEC initiates and carries out research and development projects in the areas of industrial engineering, innovative software systems and aerospace engineering with a strategic connection to the study programmes of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt.
The Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) is located in the heart of Europe, in a cosmopolitan city of great cultural diversity. For nearly 200 years, the TU Vienna has been a place of research, teaching and learning in the service of progress. TU Vienna is among the most successful technical universities in Europe and is Austria’s largest scientific-technical research and educational institution. The Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems (ISAS) addresses in its teaching the areas of materials, industrial electronics, sensors, and microsystems technology from basic courses to special classes in the study branches “Microelectronics” and “Automation Technology”. ISAS has well-equipped clean room and labs for micro, nanotechnologies, materials science and thin film technologies.
Each day of the 4M2012 conference begins with keynote talks, delivered by recognised figures in the field of micro-manufacturing research, followed by sessions based upon the conference themes of manufacturing technologies, routes and processes. 4M2012 will also incorporate a number of invited sessions, organised by EC-funded FP7 projects whose research falls within the conference scope. MultiLayer, COTECH, EUMINAfab and IMPRESS will all host sessions that will not only disseminate their findings to date but will also hopefully prompt new ideas and inter-disciplinary discussions with those outside the projects.
This varied and cross-cutting programme reflects perfectly what the 4M Association aims to do – to bring together researchers and industrialists alike, working in the field of micro-manufacture, to act as a forum and meeting place for the community and to ensure that the multi-disciplinarity that is considered so vital for success in the industry is facilitated. The 4M Association is a membership based organisation (www.4m-association.org), set up by former members of the 4M Network of Excellence, to develop further the links and contacts established amongst the members of the Network, and to grow the community by opening up membership to all.
We would like to thank those at FOTEC who have taken responsibility for the local organisation and logistics, without whose help the conference would have not been possible to organise.
Finally, and most importantly, we would like to thank all authors, speakers and the Conference Committee for their participation in the review process, without which it would have been impossible to implement a policy of full peer review for all papers prior to acceptance for presentation at the conference.
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Humbert Noll
FHWN and FOTEC |
Nadja Adamovic
ISAS, TU_Wien |
Stefan Dimov
Birmingham University |