Chapter 10 - Market Analysis, Technological 3 Foresight, and Business Models 4 for Micro-manufacturing

Micro-parts and micro-systems based products are considered as a crucial value-adding factor for many industrial sectors in Europe and thus an increasingly important contributor to Europe's industrial and economic future. The trend started in the late 20th century driven by developments in silicon-based micro-electronics, and continued during the first decade of 21st century. The trend became more focused on the adoption of micro and nano-manufacturing technologies (MNT) through applying a variety of materials, parts, components and knowledge-based technolo- gies that contribute to the intelligence and functionality of micro-systems [1]. In this regard, it is quite relevant and important to understand the existing and future trends of micro-manufacturing not only from technological perspective but also from non-technological and managerial perspective. To this end, this chapter aims to provide a required body of knowledge for the readers in terms of market analysis, technological foresights and business models for micro-manufacturing. In the first section we will study the current market of micro-manufacturing and present a market analysis by focusing on the market demand and business drivers, main sectors of application, key stakeholders and players in the market, and a concluding SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat) analysis. Then, we will have a look at future market trends and propose some technological foresight to identify future trends, future markets, future application sectors and the future of technologies. We will close the chapter by introducing business models for micro-manufacturing where examples of both existing and future innovative business models will be presented.