Lasers & Sources

Fraunhofer ILT named Melbourne IMCRC additive manufacturing center partner

June 15, 2015

In Melbourne, Australia, a new cooperative research center for innovative manufacturing technology is being established.

Gail Overton

IMCRC

The logo is shown for the Innovative Manufacturing CRC in Melbourne, Australia.

In Melbourne, Australia, a new cooperative research center for innovative manufacturing technology is being established. On May 26, 2015, Australia's Minister for Industry and Science, Ian Macfarlane, approved the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC) in Melbourne, Australia. Industrial partners, universities, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (Fraunhofer ILT; Aachen, Germany), will be joining forces for this additive manufacturing initiative.

This joint research project is set to foster collaboration between research and industry in the field of additive manufacturing. The focus here is on researching and developing additive manufacturing processes, developing automated and supportive technologies and high-quality products and, finally, transferring the technology to industry.

Thanks to its expertise, Fraunhofer ILT will play a key role in two IMCRC research areas. These include additive manufacturing of 3D multi-material systems and components as well as expanding its areas of application, particularly in electrical engineering (microphones) and medical technology (implants). To meet these scientific challenges, Fraunhofer ILT will be providing a major share of the personnel, plant and system technology and will receive direct funding from Australia.

According to Peter Jonson, interim chair of the IMCRC, the project’s total budget is in the region of 250 million Australian dollars ($194 million US dollars), consisting of 40 million Australian dollars in Commonwealth funding and another 210 million Australian dollars in contributions from industry.

The initiative is launching with a total of 18 international manufacturing companies, including SLM Solutions GmbH, RØDE Microphones and Stryker Corporation. More companies are set to join in the next few years. In addition, 16 international universities and research institutions are participating in the IMCRC alongside many well-known Australian universities, such as RMIT University--which has had a close partnership with Fraunhofer ILT for many years already--and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation CSIRO. Fraunhofer ILT is the only German R&D organization partnering with the IMCRC (http://www.imcrc.org).

SOURCE: Fraunhofer ILT; http://www.ilt.fraunhofer.de/en/publication-and-press/press-release/press-release-2015/press-release-2015-06-15.html

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.