The manipulation of biological organisms to make products that benefit human beings. Biotechnology contributes to such diverse areas as food production, waste disposal, technology, mining, and medicine.

Chip

Originally used to refer to a single die, containing a single integrated circuit, cut from a wafer, but increasingly used for non-microelectronic devices or components.

Fabrication

The production of chips through a series of processing steps carried out on a substrate or wafer, often a semiconductor wafer.

Commercialization

Actions intended to attract investment in rights to intellectual property, with the expectation that the entity gaining the rights will exercise them to develop products and/or services for sale to customers.

Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)

The year over year growth rate applied to a statistical variable using a base amount as calculated using the following formula: CAGR = ((Last Value /FirstValue ) raised to the (1 / Years) power) – 1

IC

Integrated Circuit: the interconnection of multiple electronic circuit components fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. Most often used in reference to microelectronic chips but increasingly used in reference to chips using other technologies.

In-kind

Donation of goods and/or services; discounts on purchased goods or services. The value of in-kind contributions is determined with reference to standard pricing for the good or service, where this exists, or otherwise the "next best customer" price. Goods or services that do not have a market price are assessed based on a potential market value.

Intellectual Property

The general term for intangible property rights that are a result of intellectual effort. Patents, trademarks, designs and copyright are the main intellectual property rights.

Laboratory-on-a-Chip

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a microfluidics microsystem that allows minute volumes of liquids or gases to be pumped along a channel for quick and easy testing. These miniature labs can perform tasks such as DNA analyses or the separation of human blood cells.

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS)

The integration of mechanical structures (moving parts) with microelectronics.

Microelectronics

The techniques of designing and fabricating small electronic circuits whose key components measure only billionths of a metre in length. Microelectronics is the “structural steel” that supports electronic and photonic systems.

Microfluidics

The study of fluid flow in channels of 100 microns or less in dimension. The use of microfluidics includes applications in biotechnology.

Micromachine

Structures and machines with micron feature sizes. These machines can have many functions, including sensing, communication and actuation.

Microsystems

Include microelectronics, photonics, optoelectronics, micromachining, microfluidics, embedded software and progressively nano-scale phenomena.

Modelling

The capture of the physical and functional behaviour of a technology or component within a computer program that is then used to test its response to various stimuli without requiring actual realization.

MST (Micro-System-Technology)

A more general statement of MEMS including optical and fluidic systems. MST is a more common term than MEMS in Europe and Japan. Similar to MEMS with or without the electronic circuitry (e. g. optical, mechanical or fluidic structures

Nano-scale and nanotechnology

An area of science and technology where dimensions and tolerances are in the range of 0.1 nanometre to 100 nanometres. It is concerned with materials and systems whose structures and components exhibit novel and significantly different physical, chemical and biological properties, phenomena, and processes due to their nano-scale size.

Optoelectronics

A subset of photonics concerned with the application of electronic devices that interact with light, including invisible forms of radiation such as ultraviolet and infrared.

Packaging

The process of enclosing a chip in a structure that facilitates connections to the larger subsystem, often used in relation to a microelectronics chip where the structure is plastic or ceramic and the connection is through a set of pins that are usually soldered to a printed circuit board. More generally, the package is designed to match the particular technology used for the chip.

Photonics

The science and technology of generating, manipulating, transmitting, and detecting light. It is a field that encompasses optics, quantum optics, lasers, optoelectronics, imaging, optical information processing, materials science, and their applications.

Pre-competitive

World Trade Organization Agreement On Subsidies And Countervailing Measures footnote 29: “The term ‘pre-competitive development activity’ means the translation of industrial research findings into a plan, blueprint or design for new, modified or improved products, processes or services whether intended for sale or use, including the creation of a first prototype which would not be capable of commercial use. It may further include the conceptual formulation and design of products, processes or services alternatives and initial demonstration or pilot projects, provided that these same projects cannot be converted or used for industrial application or commercial exploitation. It does not include routine or periodic alterations to existing products, production lines, manufacturing processes, services, and other on-going operations even though those alterations may represent improvements.”

Prototype

The physical realization of a microsystem; used in this document in a technological context rather than business context, i.e., a prototype that proves a concept or principle rather than a product prototype.

R&D intensity

A country’s "R&D intensity" is usually measured in terms of total R&D expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (e.g., by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, http://www.oecd.org); in reference to individual companies or industries, "R&D intensity" is often used interchangeably with "R&D activity" [e.g., Billings et al, 1999].

Software

Computer programs and data that are used in conjunction with hardware to implement a complete microelectronics system (e.g., a personal computer or a telecommunications network).

Wafer

The thin (a few hundred microns) slice sawn from a cylindrical semiconductor crystal that serves as the substrate for the fabrication of multiple individual integrated circuits or chips.