Regardless of the industry, manufacturing has always faced the challenge of prototyping. To introduce something into mass production, it was first necessary to create a model, test it and eliminate errors. This was a time-consuming and costly process. Chuck Hull’s invention—the 3D printer he patented in 1986—helped accelerate the process of implementing new products and significantly reduce development costs. 3D printing is the future of, among other fields, medicine, the aerospace industry and architecture. Almost anything can be printed: from a tooth, through a model of a house or even an entire housing estate, to parts for space stations.
A forge for prototypes
The Lower Silesian Park of Innovation and Science is coming to the aid of small and medium-sized enterprises by establishing the Lower Silesian 3D Printing Incubator. The project provides companies not only with office space important for comfortable working conditions, but also with modern equipment in the form of specialist 3D printing devices.
Nearly thirty companies, selected through a competition, already have this opportunity. They include, among others: Green Zebras (a company in the plant-processing industry), Optident (a company in the medical sector), Globmill, Procobot (robotics) and MST Automation (industrial engineering).
More jobs
Thanks to this, many talented inventors from Lower Silesia will have the opportunity to test prototypes of devices or components of larger projects. This will enable them to patent their inventions and, in the future, launch mass production. A tangible result will be the creation of new jobs and the equalization of the potential of all counties in Lower Silesia.
“By reaching for new technologies and cooperating with centers such as the 3D printing center, we can say that we are already providing dentists with the technology of tomorrow today,” says Dariusz Stój, president of Optident. The company holds a significant position in the field of digital dental diagnostics and also conducts training.
The incubator also serves broadly understood education. Meetings for preschools and schools will be organized to promote new technologies. The youngest participants will learn about the possibilities of 3D printing and may perhaps become interested in a profession with a future—that of a 3D printer operator.
The total cost of the undertaking is more than PLN 35 million, of which nearly PLN 16 million is funding from the European Union.
Informational material from the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.