About the Pilot
The key objective of the 3DP Pilot is to accelerate the market deployment and uptake of 3DP-enabled solutions in the EU through the development of industry-led, transregional demonstration platforms (i.e. ‘demo cases’) and projects that connect 3DP capabilities and actors that were operating in largely disconnected and fragmented value chains in Europe. Doing so the 3DP Pilot will contribute to the emergence of new value chains.
Activities & Long Term Goals
The 3DP Pilot is pursuing the final goal of supporting the transitions towards a smarter, more sustainable and more competitive industry by enabling the generation and implementation of industry-led cross-regional demonstration projects. Bringing prototypes to production by securing the reproducibility of application remains indeed a critical point for the industry, which hampers the uptake of 3DP solutions by SMEs.
In this context, the 3DP Pilot connects existing capabilities and addresses information asymmetry (enabling actors to find the complementary expertise they are looking for). The partnership also aims at fostering co-investment by 1) addressing transversal challenges and 2) ensuring availability and accessibility to equipment and infrastructures that will effectively serve the needs of the industry.
In order to implement these goals, the 3DP Pilot has developed and offers access to a cross-regional innovation ecosystem that gathers End-Users, Technology providers, Facility Centres, Clusters and Policy Makers and supports them in generating and implementing cross-regional demonstration projects that effectively address needs of the industry. At this stage, our cross regional ecosystem is:
- Implementing 9 'demo cases' (emerging and complex collaboration areas for which critical mass is instrumental) and, within these demo cases, various applications-specific projects (incl. 5 projects funded in end-2020);
- Developing 4 new project ideas submitted in end -2020 and currently met with high cross regional interest.
In addition to this, the ecosystem is activated flexibly and timely to address new and emerging industrial needs, beyond the scope of the demo cases: during the next plenary meeting (June 2021, date to be fixed), new project ideas will be pitched!
