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Nearly 550 exhibitors will be taking up residence for 4 days at the only annual event devoted to the high-precision sector, from watchmaking to the whole of the microtechnologies field. The event will include a plethora of new developments, scientific conferences with 40 speakers and… a few robots who seem to have found their way over from the EPFL…

Faced with a somewhat unusual growth in interest at this period of the year, the EPHJEPMT exhibition will be opening its doors on 8th June with an increased number of exhibitors: around 550 players from the professional milieus devoted to watchmaking, jewellery and the microtech sector, with 20% coming from abroad (France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Japan). Four intense, enjoyable days dedicated entirely to innovation and technology transfer.

A link between universities and businesses
Among some of the promising phenomena testifying to the tremendous competitive spirit firing this Mecca of high-precision, the scientific study days this year are mobilising the involvement of around forty conference speakers, as well as the most representative institutions of scientific research in Switzerland: EPFL (Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne), Swisslaser.net, a network supported by the Swiss agency for the promotion of innovation, Micronarc, a micro-nanotech cluster in Western Switzerland, and Alliance, a platform drawing together 6,000 researchers from Switzerland's universities. A symposium on counterfeiting, proposing several solutions, including one developed by CSEM, Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology, has already caused a stir on the web.

New input and group efforts

The increased presence of players involved in training and education also testifies to the present surge of interest. IFAGE, Training for Adults in Geneva and Geneva's Watchmaking School are organising a series of group visits and HEPIA, Geneva's applied sciences university, incidentally also exhibiting, will be holding a meeting on surface treatments. Internationally speaking, the EPHJ-EPMT exhibition will be welcoming the grouped presence of several regions or countries. Loyal followers of the exhibition, the Republic and Canton of the Jura is moving in with two joint stands. And representing its own country, a French pavilion will be opening its doors for the second time. The Vaud authorities, also involved in lending a hand to its companies, will be taking an active part in the opening ceremony.

Exhibition: EPFL's mini-robots, maximum prospects
To see them in motion, to marvel at the precision of their every gesture and their intelligence is to get right into the workings of the EPFL laboratories, the Institutes of Mechanical Engineering and Micro-engineering and the Interfaculty of Bio-engineering. Applications include home automation and domestic heat pumps, machining with mills less than 1 mm in diameter, 3D measurement by structured light projection, micro-robots destined for factory life, invasive surgery and surgery using simulator models, bone substitute for prosthetic devices in knees, etc… Some particularly visual creations are bound to draw the crowds, such as the motorised shoe for rehabilitation walking; the Salamander, a robot controlled by a mathematical model of the nervous system of a salamander! All simply waiting to be discovered.

2010 diary dates for the scientific study days
8th June, afternoon - EPFL, Research and applications in laboratory automation.
9th June, morning - EPFL, Research and applications in laboratory automation.
10th June, morning - Swisslaser.net, Lasers and photonics
10th June, afternoon - Micronarc Alliance, Forgers! Symposium on counterfeiting
11th June, morning - Micronarc and DTF