The European large-scale integrating project COTECH "COnverging TECHnologies for micro sysems manufacturing"

The continuous development of ever-smaller products in almost every industrial sector not only leads to an emerging industrial demand for suitable micro replication processes but also leads to a demand for efficient process chains for the development and production of micro-mechanical components and systems. The COTECH project is aimed at converging technologies and at developing hybrid solutions by following the vision of desktop or micro factories for the production of polymer-based micro-mechanical components and systems. The project started in October 2008, the consortium is composed of 25 European organisations (SMEs, industrial leaders, research centres, universities and service organisations), it has a duration of 4 years and is supported by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme. The paper gives an overview of the motivation, the objectives, the consortium, the work-plan and the expected results of the COTECH project.