ASME Teams with MANCEF to Present Nano Commercialization Conference

ASME has partnered with the Micro and Nano Technology Commercialization Education Foundation (MANCEF) to present a joint conference this summer that is intended to help entrepreneurs bring their research to market, find new customers, and interact with investors, suppliers and other business people. The meeting — the Commercialization of Micro, Nano and Emerging Technologies (COMS) conference — will be held from Aug. 28 to 31 at the JW Marriott Houston in Houston, Texas.

This will be the first time ASME will present a COMS conference in conjunction with MANCEF. The conferences, which MANCEF has been conducting the for more than 20 years, are widely regarded as being among the leading global events focusing on the scale-up of micro, nano, and emerging technologies.

COMS 2016 is intended to be a hands-on, practical meeting that will provide researchers with insight on how to bring their products to market and identify customers and development partners, as well as learn first-hand from the many entrepreneurial leaders presenting case studies, offering guidance and discussing the latest trends during the conference. Panelists and speakers currently scheduled to appear at COMS 2016 include Mauro Ferrari, CEO and president, Houston Methodist Research Institute; Michael Gaitan from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Physical Measurement Laboratory; Michael Meador, director of the National Science and Technology Council; Mark Zdeblick, chief technology officer for Proteus; and Rainer Harms of the Netherlands Institute for Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship (NIKOS) at the University of Twente.

This year’s conference will also feature two special competitions for beginning entrepreneurs. The Young Technology Award Contest and Boot Camp will provide an informal setting for attendees involved in early-stage, high-tech entrepreneurial startups to pitch their ideas to experts and receive practical advice and feedback. A second contest, the Student Poster Competition, will give students the chance to present their nanoscience and emerging technology research to an audience of business and technology leaders. Submissions for both competitions are due June 13. Visit the COMS 2016 website for more details.

For more information on COMS 2016, or to register for the conference, visit www.asme.org/events/coms. To learn more about the Micro and Nano Technology Commercialization Education Foundation, visit www.mancef.org.