Transcript "small", and those with fewer than 250 as "medium".[1]

Small and medium enterprises or SMEs are
companies whose headcount or turnover falls below
certain limits.
The abbreviation SME occurs commonly in the EU and in
international organizations, such as the World Bank, the
United Nations and the WTO. The term Small or Medium
sized Business or SMB has become more standard in a
few other countries.
EU Member States traditionally had their own definition
of what constitutes an SME, for example the traditional
definition in Germany had a limit of 500 employees,
while, for example, in Belgium it could have been 100.
But now the EU has started to standardize the concept.
Its current definition categorizes companies with fewer
than 50 employees as "small", and those with fewer than
250 as "medium".[1]
By contrast, in the United States, when small business is
defined by the number of employees, it often refers to
those with less than 100 employees, while medium-sized
business often refers to those with less than 500
employees. However, the most widely used American
definition of micro-business by the number of employees
is the same of that of European Union: less than 10
employees.
As of 2005, Germany will use the definition of the
European Commission.
Business enterprises of fewer than 10 employees often
class as SOHO (for Small office/home office
The world's leading merchant epiwafer supplier
IQE plc was formed in May 1999 by the merger of two
leading wafer foundries, each with a proven track
record in the supply of high quality electronic and
optoelectronic materials produced using MBE and
MOCVD platforms. We believe that the expertise and
experience across a diverse range of materials
available from IQE is unparalleled within the
compound semiconductor industry.
PharmOptima research scientist Doug
Decker works in the Innovation Center in
Kalamazoo. The firm was founded by nine
former Pfizer scientists in the wake of the
pharmaceutical giant's job cuts in 2003.
See full image
Drew Nelson graduated with a 1st Class B.Eng. (Hons) in 1976 and a
PhD in Semiconductor Technology in 1979. This was followed by a
period of post-doctoral research with us, when Drew was a leading
member of the original team that designed, commissioned and ran the
SERC Central Facility for Compound Semiconductors. This centre of
excellence, now known as the EPSRC National Centre for III-V
Technologies, is recognised as one of the outstanding jewels in the
University´s crown.
Drew joined the British Telecom Research Laboratory at Martlesham
Heath in 1981 and soon became Head of a research group that
developed state-of-the-art compound semiconductor growth
technology known as metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE).
This is now used extensively in the fabrication of all current optical
communication systems.
In 1988 Drew became Technical Director and co-founder of Epitaxial
Products International, or EPI for short. This Cardiff-based company
was Europe´s first merchant supplier of high quality MOVPE-grown IIIV semiconducting device layers. Four years later, Drew was Chief
Executive Officer and EPI had become the premier worldwide supplier
of MOVPE-grown III-V device structures to all of the world´s leading
semiconductor companies.
Following a management buy-out of EPI and the acquisition of the