Almost no state-of-the-art consumer electronics device exists that does not contain at least one MEMS sensor. From smartphones over tablets to smartwatches and hearables, MEMS sensors have taken over important key functions in these devices.

MEMS sensors themselves are undergoing continuous development processes to increase performance, functionality, reduce power consumption and shrink size. In parallel, more and more new sensor use cases and applications are being developed with MEMS sensors. Either by intelligently combining them with other measurement technologies or by applying leading-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In his talk, Dr. Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO at Bosch Sensortec will introduce latest solution examples, explaining how new technological developments enrich sensor related use cases for Consumer Electronics without forgetting the roots for smart sensing technology: MEMS technologies.

The use of sound has a long history in medicine. Dating back to 350 BC, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, regarded as "the father of medicine", devised a diagnostic method for detecting fluid in the lungs by shaking patients by their shoulders and listening to the resulting sounds emanating from their chest. As acoustic technology has advanced, so too has our ability to "listen" to the body and better understand underlying pathologies. The 18th century invention of the stethoscope allowed doctors to gauge the health of the heart; the 20th century invention of ultrasound imaging revolutionized the field of biomedical imaging and enabled doctors to diagnose a range of conditions in the fields of obstetrics, emergency medicine, cardiology, and pulmonology. In the last decade, a new frontier in biomedical acoustic technologies has emerged, termed acoustofluidics, which joins cutting-edge innovations in acoustics with micro- and nano- scale fluid mechanics. Advances in acoustofluidics have enabled unprecedented abilities in the early detection of cancer, the non-invasive monitoring of prenatal health, the diagnoses of traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases, and have also been applied to develop improved therapeutic approaches for transfusions and immunotherapies. In this talk, I summarize our lab's recent progress in this exciting field and highlight the versatility of acoustofluidic tools for biomedical applications through many unique examples, ranging from the development of high-purity, high-yield methods for the separation of circulating biomarkers such as exosomes and circulating tumor cells, to highly precise, biocompatible platforms for manipulating cells and studying cell-cell communication, to high-throughput therapeutic approaches for platelet isolation and enrichment, to strategies for high-resolution 3D bioprinting, to programable, contact-free technologies for digital fluid manipulation. These acoustofluidic devices can precisely manipulate objects across 7 orders of magnitude (from a few nanometers to a few centimeters). Thanks to these favorable attributes (e.g., versatility, precision, and biocompatibility), acoustofluidic devices harbor enormous potential in becoming a leading technology for a broad range of applications, playing a critical role for translating innovations in technology into advances in biology and medicine.