Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Conference 2016: Takeaways

The Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing European Conference 2016 was recently held at the European Parliament under the theme “Helping industry and policy makers to build together a European strategy for additive manufacturing”. Organised by CECIMO, it was co-hosted by five Members of the European Parliament: Dario Tamburrano (EFDD), David Borrelli (EFDD), Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA), Eva Kaili (S&D) and Andrey Novakov (EPP). High-level representatives from companies, EU institutions, think tanks and other stakeholders of the machine tools sector participated in the event.
Four key conclusions have been drawn during the conference:

• A global race is under way to industrialise additive manufacturing, and Europe has to increase the intensity of its coordinated efforts to prevail.
• Policy measures are necessary to improve access to finance for the industry, especially for its resource-limited SMEs.
• Skills are crucial for accelerating the uptake of additive manufacturing across Europe. A paradigm shift in education is needed to provide learners with the skills they truly need.
• Common standards and a uniform certification system would greatly facilitate the exploitation of additive manufacturing capabilities by businesses.

To learn more, download the Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing European Conference’s takeaways.
Watch the video of the conference.