MALVERN'S QinetiQ research company is to get nearly £850,000 over three years from the European Union to lead a new consortium.

Called Integram, the consortium is designed to help smaller companies and universities gain access to microsystems technology (MST).

It can also help larger companies reduce risks by producing prototype devices for them in small quantities.

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) can be used in guidance, environmental sensing, optical and radio communications and medicine.

QinetiQ's Malvern-based MST team, the largest in the UK, has already demonstrated a wide range of such devices and products.

The consortium, in which QinetiQ links up with leading software design house Coventor, aims to offer a one-stop service from consultancy, design, simulation, fabrication, test and packaging through to production.

"This high-profile project confirms QinetiQ as an important player on the European scene and clearly demonstrates that we can help companies at any stage of the design, fabrication or production cycle," said Dr Christopher Pickering, Integram leader at QinetiQ.

"We already have an ongoing project to evaluate a state-of-the-art deep dry etcher in the silicon cleanroom at Malvern and this production tool will be accessible to companies.

"Integram is aimed at companies that either have little MEMS expertise or lack the relevant technology and, by helping to reduce entry barriers, it will provide companies with flexible reduced-cost prototyping before committing to volume production on the same processes."