The first MakerBot Innovation Center in Italy will open in June at the LIUC – Università Cattaneo. It is also the first facility in Europe.
“The opening of the MakerBot Innovation Center will represent a great chance to empower students, faculty and professionals to innovate, keep pace with developments and will prepare students for the business challenges of tomorrow,” said Alexander Hafner, general manager with MakerBot Europe. MakerBot Europe GmbH & Co. KG is located in Stuttgart, Germany, and provides programs to integrate 3-D printing in the education sector.
MakerBot Innovation Center will be carried out with the help of the researchers of SmartUp – Digital Manufacturing Laboratory. SmartUp is a project with the goal to spread the culture of digital manufacturing and has been developed by the LIUC and the Unione degli Industriali della Provincia di Varese.
“From next year our engineering students will have the chance to challenge their skills in designing and manufacturing prototypes in the context of simulated startups,” said Prof Luca Mari, director of SmartUp – Digital Manufacturing Laboratory.
In addition to preparing students the center will assist area companies. “This project,” noted Samuele Astuti and Mauro Mezzenzana, Innovation Center Team Leaders, “is aimed at supporting companies that are moving toward product and process innovation in order to get new market opportunities in a highly competitive environment.”
The LIUC – Università Cattaneo is situated in Castellanza, a small town in Northern Italy that lies 25 kilometers North West of Milan.
