IVAM - Economic Data

28.01.2010

IVAM Survey 2010

The impact of the ongoing economic crisis on the microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials industries is expected to be less noticeable in 2010 than in the previous business year. A year ago, however, an improvement in the economic situation had been predicted by industry representatives for 2009 as well, a year that did not develop …

26.01.2010

28.01.2010: Micro, Nano and Materials Industry reports drops in turnover in 2009

According to the European Microtechnology, Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials industry, sales in 2009 clearly went down, much more so than in the previous year, 2008. More than one quarter (27%) of the companies reported a turnover decreasing more than 10% - only one tenth of the companies (10%) had expected cutbacks on such a big …

25.01.2010

28.01.2010: Financing gaps increasingly burden the European high-tech industries

During 2009, financing remained stable for 46% of the European Micro, Nano and Materials companies. But it is a striking fact that none of the responding companies has reported an improvement in its funding situation in 2009. The current restrictive approach to lending is gradually becoming a life-threatening problem for many high-tech companies. If the …

24.01.2010

28.01.2010: Industry responds to the crisis with diversification and downsizing in 2009

Diversification has been the most common reaction of the European micro, nano and materials companies to the economic crisis, in addition to intensified customer acquisition efforts (figure 3). Almost half of the companies (49%) have expanded their business, 82% of them by developing new products, 55% by entering new markets with existing or new products. …

23.01.2010

28.01.2010: Short-time work takes positive effects on German high-tech industries

In Germany, some of the supporting measures with which the federal government tried to counteract the economic crisis appear to have had a positive impact on the microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials industry. Companies in Germany have more often than their European competitors been able to keep their staff numbers steady. It seems that the …

22.01.2010

28.01.2010: German high-tech companies support automotive industry in 2009

Among the target markets of the German micro, nano and materials companies, the automotive industry has replaced the medical technology industry as the most popular market for the first time in years. Slightly more than half of the German companies (51%) supplied the automotive industry in 2009, whereas in the rest of Europe it were …

21.01.2010

28.01.2010: Export business is slow for German companies in 2009

Since 2004, the German microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials companies have suffered significant cutbacks on foreign markets. While the percentage of companies that achieved more than half of their turnover on foreign markets in 2004 was still above 50%, it was only at 33% in 2009. In the rest of Europe, 58% of the companies …

20.01.2010

28.01.2010: China catches up with Japan as popular export country in 2009

German companies more often address markets in Asia than their European competitors. For the companies in other European countries Germany itself is by far the most important export country. To the companies in other European countries apart from Germany, markets in Asian are becoming more popular, too. Almost half (47%) of the non-German microtechnology, nanotechnology …

09.04.2009

09.04.2009: High-tech enterprises react to economic crisis in a constructive way in 2008

The European micro, nano and materials enterprises intend to react to the general economic crisis mostly with constructive measures. Almost 70 % of the enterprises intend to intensify their efforts to acquire new customers; more than 65 % want to develop new business fields. However, almost 35 % of the enterprises consider reducing labour costs. …

08.04.2009

09.04.2009: Export share of European high-tech industry steady in spite of in spite of crisis

The global economic crisis has had no drastic effects on the export share of the European micro, nano and materials industry. Altogether, almost 50 % of the small and medium-sized enterprises have gained at least half of their annual sales with export in 2008. The USA is still the major export country of the European …

07.04.2009

09.04.2009: Expectations of staff growth subdued for 2009

Prognoses for staff growth are noticeably less optimistic in the current business year than they were in the previous years. Altogether, only a little more than 30 % of the European micro, nano and materials enterprises are expecting their staff numbers to grow in 2009. More than half of the enterprises are expecting to keep …

06.04.2009

09.04.2009: Micro, nano and materials enterprises depend on automotive industry despite sales crisis

The current sales crisis of the automotive industry apparently does not prompt the high-tech suppliers to turn away from the industry. Apart from medical technology, which continues to be the major market for the European micro, nano and materials enterprises, the automotive industry is their second most important market. More than 50 % of the …

05.04.2009

09.04.2009: Microsystems for renewable energies are trend-setting

Microsystems for renewable energies, e.g. photovoltaic applications, are a promising market for the European micro, nano and materials enterprises. 55 % of the enterprises that are involved in energy technologies intend to focus on renewable energy applications in the near future. 45 % of the enterprises intend to work on functional surfaces that save energy …

01.09.2008

01.09.2008: Trendsetting markets Life Sciences and Cleantech are not sufficiently supplied

Life Sciences and clean technologies are promising markets that micro- and nanotechnology enterprises should more strongly focus on. A survey in the Dortmund region came up with significant differences in the evaluation of the future potential of applications and the companies’ activities in these markets. For instance, an average of 65.5 % of the respondents …

09.04.2008

09.04.2008: The shortage of qualified staff becomes an acute problem for the micro and nanotechnology industry

According to the member survey of the IVAM Microtechnology Network, 47 percent of the companies expect to be affected by the shortage of qualified staff in 2008 already. Only 30 percent thought so in 2007. People with a technical or scientific background are particularly scarce: they account for more than 80 percent of the shortage. …

08.04.2008

09.04.2008: Energy and solar applications are becoming a new trend

Apart from the Life Sciences, the automotive and semiconductor industry, which have been the leading target markets of the micro- and nanotechnology industry, applications in the fields of energy and solar systems are a growing trend. Almost 12 % of the European micro- and nanotechnology companies and research institutes are expecting these markets to be …

17.01.2008

15.04.2007: German micro and nanotechnology companies expect to grow despite skilled labor shortage

IVAM’s members are optimistic about their development. 40% of the companies in Germany expect their numbers of employees to increase strongly in the next 3 to 5 years. The forecasts are distinctly better than in the years before, despite an expected skilled labor shortage: half of the enterprises expect to be affected by a shortage …

16.01.2008

15.04.2007: Growing attractiveness of Asian markets

Among the countries or regions, where the members would like to take up business in the near future, India gained in popularity compared to last year’s survey (from 5.4% to 13.6%), whereas China dropped back considerably (from 12.5% to 3.4%). The Asian countries have out-run the USA as a potential business country. The USA is, …

15.01.2008

15.04.2007: BioMEMS considered to be most important new application field for micro and nanotechnology

One third of the German micro and nanotechnology enterprises consider bio-microsystems to be an important new technology and application field. Other important new application fields are micro-nano integration and microsystems for machine/plant construction and production processes (31.0 % each). Source: Member Survey of the IVAM Microtechnology Network, February 2007.

14.01.2008

01.04.2006: Medical Technology is the major market of the micro and nanotechnology companies

Medical technology is the major market of the German micro and nanotechnology enterprises. In an online survey conducted among the members of the IVAM Microtechnology Network, 46.5 % of the German enterprises indicated medical technology as a sector in which they are prominently engaged. The life sciences biotechnology and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry are …