The “Stiftung Standort- und Zukunftssicherung Kreis Wesel” is supporting the zdi Centre (Future through Innovation) in Kamp-Lintfort with a grant of 24,000 euros towards the purchase of 3D printers for ceramics and chocolate. Joint information and training events on this future-oriented technology are also being planned.
3D printing is fascinating. The idea of a new digital revolution – transforming data into something ‘real’ and ready for use – piques our curiosity. Some things sound like science fiction, yet much of it is already a reality or close to it. Doctors, for example, are researching ways to produce human skin using a 3D printer. The first car produced by a 3D printer, on the other hand, is already on the road.
3D printers were first developed in the 1980s and have been continuously refined ever since. To produce a print, a digital model is created – for example, of cups or even dental implants. The printer then transforms the model into plastic, ceramic or metal. A wealth of new applications, processes and materials is expected in the coming years, alongside an accelerated uptake of the technology.
That is why the future technology of ‘3D printing’ is also particularly important for regional innovation capacity. “With key competencies in 3D technology, school pupils, students and skilled workers can respond to changes in the world of work in an innovative way that is both professionally sound and socially responsible,” emphasises District Administrator Dr Ansgar Müller, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wesel District Foundation for Securing the Region’s Future. “Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences has taken a pioneering role in the region by setting up a FabLab at its Kamp-Lintfort campus. We want to provide long-term support for this development through the purchase of equipment and joint information events.”
The ‘FabLab’ is a concept developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that forms part of a global network. The term refers to an open, high-tech workshop where a wide variety of products can be manufactured using computer-controlled machines.
Among other things, the zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort runs workshops with schools, in which pupils build a 3D printer themselves and take it back to their schools free of charge for further use. “Printing chocolate or even ceramics is a simple way of making this relatively new technology accessible to the general public,” says zdi coordinator Dr Martin Kreymann.
“Through our initiative, we aim to contribute to the development of a skilled workforce,” adds Prof. Ingeborg Schramm-Wölk, Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Environment. “In the Foundation, the university’s zdi Centre has a partner that has supported us financially from the very beginning and consistently promotes dialogue with the regional business and political communities. That is very important to us.”
That is precisely the guiding principle of the “Foundation for Securing the Region’s Future”, says Michael Düchting, Managing Director of the Foundation and Head of the Wesel District Economic Development Agency: “There are numerous ideas for the future that will secure and further strengthen the Wesel district’s position. The Wesel district – in cooperation with the local business community – expressly wishes to support these ideas. In the spirit of public-private partnership, this enables philanthropic commitment to the region to be pooled.” Between 2010 and 2013, the Foundation therefore provided around 30,500 euros in support to the zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort, thereby also fostering collaboration between Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences and schools in the Wesel district.
The official opening of the FabLab Kamp-Lintfort will take place in mid-April 2015.
