Vanguard Initiative – S3 partnership Additive Manufacturing
Additive Manufacturing has a huge potential for new growth and employment in Europe. It can induce more local production in Europe thanks to its flexibility and customisation of manufacturing while also stimulating the worldwide commercialisation of creative designs. Therefore, 3D-printing is seen as an important component of the new industrial revolution that will benefit welfare and employment creation across Europe. Many fields of application for 3D-printing remain only partially exploited because of different bottlenecks in the emerging value chains.
‘High Performance Production through 3D-Printing’ is one of five ongoing pilot projects within the Vanguard Initiative. Its goal is to create a network of industry-led demonstrators across European regions to improve the uptake of solutions provided by 3D-printing technologies. By exploiting the potential of regions, regional clusters and of interregional collaboration at the level of demonstration and piloting activities, development of the emerging industry in 3D-printing will be accelerated on the basis of organised complementarities (smart specialisation).
This pilot project started in September 2014 with 16 regions (VI and non-VI regions) committing to develop a European demonstration network for 3D-printing solutions. Currently, 22 regions are involved in this pilot project.
The aim is to set up a European cooperation to strengthen and exploit network synergies between demonstration facilities, companies, research institutes/facilities and Clusters for the co-creation of growth markets for 3D-printing applications.
A mapping exercise has led to the identification of several proposals for joint demonstration. These focus on joint demonstration platforms, on which various technologies/processes can be tested and validated for several applications/products/processes, as well as on generic themes (e.g. training).
Leading regions
Participating regions: Andalusia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Aragon, Saxony, Asturias, Örebro Län, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Skåne, Baden-Württemberg, Tampere, Catalonia, Thuringia, Emilia-Romagna, Upper-Austria, Lombardy, Wallonia, Malopolska, Randstad Region, Nord-Pas-de-Calais.