The world's leading trade fair for the development and manufacturing of electronics - productronica - started last Tuesday at the Munich Exhibition Center. With around 1,600 exhibitors from 43 countries, it is one of the largest industry events in the world. More than 45,000 visitors from 96 nations are expected in the exhibition halls of the Bavarian capital from November 12 to 15. Also to experience SEMICON Europa, Europe's largest semiconductor trade fair, which will once again be held as part of productronica.  

Silicon Saxony was again present this year with a joint stand. 32 exhibitors of the Saxon microelectronics and ICT network presented their latest products, services and solutions. A total of 52 Saxon companies and institutions are represented in Munich this year. Together with partners and members such as the state capital of Dresden, the Smart Systems Hub, NaMLab and Senorics, Saxony as a business and science location will focus on its expertise in Munich.

"Following the extremely successful past events of SEMICON Europa in Dresden (2015, Germany), Grenoble (2016, France), for the first time at productronica in Munich (2017, Germany) and for the first time together with electronica, also taking place in Munich (2018, Germany), we are delighted to be back in Munich in 2019. The merger of the sister fairs electronica and productronica with SEMICON Europa has given Europe's largest semiconductor trade fair an enormous boost in the past two years. Even more exhibitors, even more visitors and even closer proximity to key focus industries such as the automotive industry, medicine, consumer electronics and mechanical and plant engineering have opened up excellent networking and business opportunities for all exhibitors at SEMICON," explains Frank Bösenberg, Managing Director of Silicon Saxony e. V.

On a total of 88,000 square metres of exhibition space in Munich in 2019, visitors from Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Great Britain will again be in the majority. Exhibitors, on the other hand, have a different picture. Germany, the USA, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands are the top 5.

32 companies and institutions at the Silicon Saxony joint boothWithin a very short time, the joint booth of the Saxon microelectronics and ICT network Silicon Saxony was fully booked again this year. 32 exhibitors and members of the association secured the coveted stand space at an early stage. Finally, a total of 38 Silicon Saxony members made their way to SEMICON Europe and a further 13 found a place in the productronica halls. No wonder, since the trend themes of this year's productronica - Smart Factory and Smart Maintenance - are also currently very popular in the Free State of Saxony. Last but not least, SEMICON Europa has for years been an absolute must at Germany's largest microelectronics location, one of the most important in the whole of Europe.  

A varied stand program with lectures, product and solution presentations, matchmaking hours, discussion rounds and the traditional stand party - sponsored by znt-Richter and EBARA - at the end of Wednesday once again drew the steady stream of visitors to the largest joint stand of SEMICON Europa. Even the Japanese Consulate General in Germany visited the stand. Numerous Silicon Saxony members refer to Japanese roots, e.g. Rorze, HORIBA, EBARA or cleanpart. Last but not least, the Saxon state capital Dresden took the opportunity to present itself at the Silicon Saxony joint booth in Munich.

Dresden presents itself with innovations from the fields of memory, sensor technology and optoelectronics.

"SEMICON Europa is of course a must for Dresden companies and research institutions and for us as business development agencies every year," emphasizes Uwe Richter, head of the Smart City division in the Dresden Office for Business Development. In recent years, the state capital has presented the high-tech location as a global centre for "Internet of Things" key technologies and a major driving force and "problem solver" for industry 4.0. This year, the location is promoting itself with technological highlights from microelectronics. "Chips and semiconductor components are the decisive drivers for future technological leaps in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving or 5G applications in industry 4.0. Dresden is the heart of European microelectronics - and the high-tech nucleus in Europe from which essential innovations for precisely these technological leaps come. We have brought discoveries and innovations for the growth markets of memory, sensor technology and optoelectronics to Munich," says Uwe Richter.

NaMLab: Memory for the technological leap to real artificial intelligence The Nanoelectronic Materials Laboratory (NaMLab) has taken a leap forward in the development of energy-efficient semiconductor solutions for "real" artificial intelligence (AI). The researchers have discovered a unique effect of ferroelectric materials: ferroelectrics have a spontaneous electrical polarization that can be reversed by an external electric field - and the spontaneous polarization can thus switch back and forth, so to speak. This "switching effect" is extremely promising for applications in energy-efficient electronics and energy storage - for example, for energy-saving supertransistors that can be operated at much lower voltages than usual. The effect can also be used for hardware implementation of neural networks. Prof. Dr. Thomas Mikolajick, Managing Director of NaMLab and Professor for Nanoelectric Materials at the Institute for Semiconductor and Microsystems Technology at TU Dresden, says: "Ferroelectric and resistive memories are an enormous growth market. In AI applications, memory solutions are increasingly becoming a technological differentiator. These memories can be used to build hardware that imitates biological neural networks - and thus enables us to make the leap to real artificial intelligence".

Smart Systems Hub and HighTech runway present Dresden visionaries of the future The "Smart Systems Hub" presents a dozen startups with groundbreaking developments at SEMICON Europe. Under the title 'Young Discrupers', it presents future technologies that fill the hub's mission - 'Enabling IoT' - with life in the TechArena on the opening day. As part of the BMWi's digital hub initiative, the hub has been bringing together Dresden-based and Chemnitz-based companies and research institutions as well as their know-how in the key areas of hardware, software and connectivity for this mission since 2017. Managing Director Michael Kaiser: "We are giving the 'Young Disrupters' a platform to present themselves to international investors and thus want to initiate development partnerships". Dresden is represented by four 'Junge Veränder': Semron wants to produce the most efficient AI chip in the world. FlowLogiX is working on the revolution of workflow in automated handling systems in industrial production. How they completely rethink electronics manufacturing is demonstrated by young researchers from the Institute for Packaging Technology of Electronics and the Center for Microelectronic Production at TU Dresden. The 'Young Disrupter' Senorics will also be present in Munich.

Senorics: Handy NIR spectrometer for the analysis of ingredients The Dresden-based startup Senorics is presenting a spectroscopic sensor in Munich for the analysis of ingredients and compositions - for example for textiles, food and plastics. This is made possible by near-infrared light rays that hit solid materials or liquids and whose reflected spectrum is then measured by a sensor. The handy spectrometer can be used, for example, to check the correct composition of drugs or to measure the protein content of wheat directly in the field. Quality assurance, testing and decision-making processes such as incoming and outgoing goods or quality classifications can be considerably accelerated. The areas of application are diverse. The managing director of Senorics GmbH, Dr. Ronny Timmreck, emphasizes the potential: "Until now, these analyses were only possible on a stationary basis with cost-intensive measuring instruments in the laboratory. Our mobile near-infrared spectrometer is much more cost-effective and flexible.

Exhibitors at the Silicon Saxony joint booth@SEMICON Europa 2019:

• Adenso GmbH   
• Landeshauptstadt Dresden Amt für Wirtschaftsförderung
• Arcade Engineering GmbH   
• MCRT Micro Cleanroom
• ATT Systems GmbH   
• MKS Instruments Deutschland GmbH
• Azbil Europe NV   
• Particle Measuring Systems Germany GmbH
• camLine GmbH   
• Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
• Cleanpart Group GmbH   
• Photronics MZD GmbH
• CS CLEAN SOLUTIONS AG   
• Picosun Europe GmbH
• Ebara Precision Machinery   
• Rudolph Technologies Europe BV
• Entegris GmbH   
• SEMPA SYSTEMS GmbH
• Fabmatics GmbH   
• SEMSYSCO
• Fraunhofer ENAS   
• Solayer GmbH
• Fraunhofer IZM-Assid   
• SPEA GmbH
• Horiba Europe GmbH   
• SYSTEMA Systementwicklung GmbH
• INFICON GmbH    Umicore AG & Co. KG
• InnoLas Semiconductor   
• Wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen GmbH
• isel Germany AG   
• znt Richter 

Further Linkswww.semiconeuropa.org    www.productronica.com  www.electronica.de www.silicon-saxony.de www.dresden.dewww.namlab.de www.senorics.com www.smart-systems-hub.de