The 27th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium kicks off in Austin, Texas on August 8th.
The AT&T Conference Center at the University of Texas will host some of the finest minds in the 3D printing industry for three days and we’re sure there will be some big news to report.
15 minutes of FAME
Two FAME Award Winners, Dr Brent Stucker of 3DSIM, LLC and Dr Li Yang of the University of Louisville will be recognized at the conference awards banquet. Each of them will receive a check for $2000, a freeform trophy and a certificate. There will be more awards for the best poster and oral presentation at the event itself.
Authors from 19 countries will attend the symposium and give more than 400 presentations, with 368 oral and 56 poster presentations. This is a 50% increase on last year, which was a record breaker in terms of attendance. The organisers are expecting 500 attendees this year, too, so this is a symposium on the move and we’re expecting some big news from the three-day event.
But first, some food
The symposium kicks off with a traditional Texas BBQ at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens, hosted by Stratasys Digital and Structured Polymers. Then the work begins for the delegates. Hopefully they make the most of it as this is not a cheap event and they paid $595 for the right to attend, while students got through the doors for $320.
The event has come a long way in the last 27 years. In the late 1980s, 3D printing was in its infancy and the only people that really paid attention to additive manufacturing were academics and the most forward thinking engineers in the aerospace industry.
Since then 3D printing has grown at an incredible pace and now we’re looking at using it for full manufacturing in a huge variety of industries. It was always invaluable in rapid prototyping, but 3D printing is now bridging the gap and is increasingly used to produce the end product. It’s been a long road and Austin isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.
3D printing’s amazing progress
Additive manufacturing has leapt to the forefront of medical research, food and 3D printed parts now feature on cars, satellites and rockets. We have still barely scratched the surface of its true potential, which is the truly exciting part. The attendees at the symposium and a number of other events around the world in the coming months will play a part in taking it to the next level and we never truly know when the next big breakthrough is coming.
Get the best news on the site
You don’t have to spend almost $600 to get access to a number of the manuscripts that the authors will upload to the symposium’s website, so you could get the juiciest news from the symposium without making the pilgrimage to Texas.
So make sure you take a look at the website and check in to 3D Printing Industry, too, because we’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for the breaking news.
