Shareholding of Fraunhofer

Fraunhofer Venture

mignos GmbH

The Company

mignos GmbH 

For the transportation or dosing of liquid or gaseous substances, usually pumps are used. For particularly small volumes (in the range of some micro liters per minute or less), however, the market does not offer any pumps that would fulfill this task satisfactorily.

With the means of micro system technology manufacturing methods, employees of the Fraunhofer Research Establishment for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT developed a silicon pump solving this problem. The aim of the spin-off mignos GmbH is to establish and market this pump on the market. Further micro systems (valves, 'high-pressure pumps', etc.) that are currently under development at Fraunhofer EMFT, will extend the product range in the future and, thus, put mignos GmbH in the position of the most comprehensive supplier of micro pump systems worldwide.

Technology and Products

In medical diagnostics (point of care), laboratory analysis and for mobile fuel cells, micro pumps are regarded as the key technology for miniaturizing fluidic systems (micro fluidics). The technology's market potential is tremendous.

There are actually individual micro pumps on the market; however, these do not fulfill the users' requirements. The Fraunhofer EMFT micro pump is fundamentally different from these systems: It is the smallest and most powerful micro pump worldwide at present and protected by two basic patents. No third-party patents are required for manufacturing. The attorneyship Schoppe, Zimmermann, Stöckeler & Zinkler, in Pullach, Germany, conducted a patent evaluation confirming the effectiveness of existing claims. The competitive situation may be assessed as relaxed, as the market for micro pumps is just about to open up.

mignos GmbH acts as a supplier and developer of complete micro pump systems on the market. Licensed partners undertake the manufacturing of the products. Industrialization of the silicon micro pump at Tronics Microsystems S.A., Grenoble, France, will be concluded in the near future.