If you want to know about 3D printing technologies and their applications, who better to get insights from than Europe’s largest 3D printing service? Sponsored by leading 3D printing and 3D scanning companies such as EOS, Stratasys, GOM, Concept Laser, Prodways, and even HP and RICOH, the Materialise World Conference 2015 is shaping up as the place to be in 3D printing next April 23rd and 24th.
This year’s event will be the largest ever, with a line up of some 120 speakers (and a total of about 850 planned attendees) focusing mainly on Mimics software innovation, additive manufacturing applications, and future healthcare and design. In fact, all three sections will have healthcare as a main focus, demonstrating that, for Materialise’s activities in the industry, that is currently the area of greatest demand and expansion.
Along with Materialise’s founder and CEO Fried Vancraen, other keynote speakers will include top 3D printed fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht and leading industry analyst Terry Wohlers, Principal Consultant & President of Wohlers Associates.
The Mimics Innovation Summit will be centered on engineering anatomy & 3D printing for research and hospital communities. Speakers will include several top international doctors that will discuss some of the most interesting case studies in which 3D visualisation and printing has already made practical differences in the operating room. Experts will also discuss how Materialise’s Mimics software suite can contribute to designing custom implants, sizing devices, and performing simulations or pre-operative planning.
Through contributions from manufacturing industry experts, the Additive Manufacturing Summit will cover how industrial 3D printing can bring new solutions to any field of expertise. Manufacturing industry experts like Jo Stenuit, Senior Designer Manager at Mazda Motor Europe; Dr. Philip Reeves, from Econolyst Limited; Marco Kormann, senior development engineer at Adidas AG; and many others will share their experiences and showcase how AM lets them turn ideas into groundbreaking projects.
More direct and consumer-oriented manufacturing applications of 3D printing will be covered in the “3D Printing Brought to You” section of the event, with many top and emerging designers discussing the new creative possibilities that 3D printing and, in particular, the i.materialise service has offered them (I was really glad to see my friend Eli5e Luttik among them).
Another set of meetings will focus exclusively on exploring how all 3D printing, 3D visualisation, and 3D scanning technologies are offering new solutions to surgeons in fields ranging from orthopaedics, craniomaxillofacial practices, and beyond. Specific talks will discuss the benefits of 3D printing in oncology cases, the evolution from 2D to 3D in the development of X-Ray-based personalised guides for knee arthroplasty, as well as the practical applications of dynamic scans and 3D printing technology.
In fact, this is shaping up to be the widest area of interest, with several more case studies and even Materialise’s CEO himself intervening on how the company will work to co-engineer the future of healthcare, culminating with insights on regenerative medicine with stem cells, bionics, and hydrogel-based biofabrication. 3D printing has given us the ability to go from personalized kid’s toys to bioficial lifesaving organs all through the same process: at the MWC, you’ll be able to see it all in one place.
