Moving Forward
With the tragedies we witnessed September 11th we also immediately realized how vulnerable we are. Not only transportation, short and long term planning but also the economy are deeply affected. Our sympathy of course in the first place goes to all those people who have lost a family member or friend. The question is how to tackle these terrible undeserved events.
In this editorial I will not address the people who have lost their dear ones and who have to live through this — I hope they will find support and comfort from their nearest circles and the Society.
I am addressing the rest of us — what to do? For many, daily life was already threatened by the weakened economy and now it seems as if the light at the end of the tunnel has become less bright.
Well, we cannot just isolate ourselves and become introvert; we have to move on with even more energy than before. We have to focus on the bright side and focus on everything that will not drag us down the hill of pessimism.
Therefore I will focus first on a company that is investing in the future while others are on halt. Investing in mass production of new and high technology products. Such a company is the small Finnish packaging and assembly house, Selmic Oy. Located 60 miles from the Polar circle, it has seen the light. It has invested in a new factory stuffed with automatic equipment for the mass production of LTCC modules. More details will be found in the “European Chapter” and its section on new business in the Nordic countries.
I wish them all the best and hope that their initiative will be successful.
IMAPS-Nordic, celebrating its 30-year anniversary at the end of September, also had to make tough decisions: to cancel the event or to carry on, knowing that the programme and what has been “sold” most likely would be changed due to the fact that half of the 34 speakers were coming from USA, Far East and other countries outside the “safe” Nordic area. We decided to carry on and with great understanding had to accept a few speaker cancellations either due to a company ban on travelling, understandable fear of flying or other logistics related problems. Some papers were presented remote controlled over the Internet or phone lines, and some completely cancelled — except for the written contribution in the Proceedings. But also new papers were added in the last few days, so we again could offer the delegates value for the money!
In spite of previously unseen economic restrictions in travelling from the leading telecom companies, IMAPS-Nordic managed to have a conference attracting more than 170 persons. This thanks to a forward-looking programme with topics of interest for coming and existing products — hopefully leading us all in the right direction — out in the bright.
Finally I will draw your attention to two coming forward-looking European Microelectronics and Packaging events:
Our biannual IMAPS-Europe Symposium which will take place in the historical city of Cracow, Poland, June 16-18, 2002.
Our biannual IMAPS-Europe Conference & Exhibition will take place in Friedrichshafen, Germany, June 23-25, 2003. Please find a Call for Papers in this issue of AM with more details.
Søren Nørlyng
noerlyng@micronsult.dk
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