Micro-Multi-Material Manufacture to Enable Multifunctional Miniaturised Devices (M6), as a multi-national collaborative research programme, focuses on the potential challenges and issues encountered in the design and manufacture of miniaturised devices in terms of novel materials, processes and demonstration, which will ultimately underpin the manufacturability and reliability of future generation miniaturised devices utilised across various industrial sectors.

The research activities are focused on a new-generation health monitoring technology platform named point-of-care testing (POCT) for in-vitro diagnosis (IVD), and also in-vivo and non-invasive physiological assessment (Fig. 1). The novel portable and easy-to-use devices can increase access to modern medicine and enable earlier diagnosis, therapy and treatment of disease. The next-generation POCT system developed based on this research programme as a high performance miniaturised device will create a new avenue in diagnostic and clinical assessment technologies, and lay the foundation for a variety of biomedical technology innovations to provide EU, Japan and China with an outstanding opportunity to manufacture electronics-enabled high-value added products.

The M6 project is based on partnership of four research institutions located in Europe and Asia: Loughborough University (Co-ordinator) in United Kingdom, the University of Applied Science Kaiserslautern in Germany, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan.

The International Research Centre In Innovative Electronics Manufacturing (iCEM) is a joint research centre established by Loughborough University (LU) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) to undertake collaborative research in the area of electronics manufacture and multifunctional microsystems integration. The scope of iCEM is to facilitate a virtual platform of mutual research collaboration and postgraduate training, and will collaborate with the relevant international groups worldwide

This first annual conference jointly sponsored by the HUST, M6 project and iCEM will provide a unique occasion for a broad dissemination of research outcomes in the area of advanced manufacturing for multifunctional miniaturised devices. It is envisaged that the event will attract a number of leading international researchers from academia and industry.