Online manufacturing service provider 3D Hubs, is providing a $1000 grant to students who can show innovative and entrepreneurial skills in 3D printing.
Founded in 2013, 3D Hubs is one of the largest global manufacturing networks with offices in Amsterdam, London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston. The 3D Hubs platform hosts more than 6,000 online 3D printing services in 150+ countries. In addition to this, the manufacturing service is also known for publishing 3D printing trend reports.
Training future entrepreneurs
3D Hubs first organized this grant in 2018 which generally received a positive response with the participation of more than 1,000 students from 400 universities.
The projects the student grant previously supported are CUDA, a functional prototype of an underwater jetpack, and ASLA, a robotic hand that can translate speech into sign language.
Commenting on last year’s student grant program Filemon Schoffer, co-founder and CMO of 3D Hubs, said, “The reason we launched the 3D Printing Student Grant was to support the next generation of professionals who are pushing the boundaries of the technology. The quality of projects we received in past years was above and beyond anything we could ever expect.”
“WE ARE EXCITED TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS OF AMBITIOUS STUDENTS AND INNOVATORS WHO WANT TO TURN THEIR IDEA INTO A PRODUCT. WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESIGNERS AND ENGINEERS ARE WORKING ON.”
Qualifying process
To qualify for the grant this year, contestants must show the jury how they have used 3D printing in an innovative way for their design project. All challengers must present a physical product or prototype which has been made using 3D printing, either in part or whole.
Individuals, as well as groups, can take part in the contest. However, all participants must be current students (secondary, undergraduate or postgraduate) or graduates who completed their study after July 2018.
Awards will be given to five finalists in the categories of Product Design, Robotics, Sustainability, Transportation and Healthcare. These categories are broad and cover a variety of applications, the sustainability category, for example, includes eco projects, humanitarian engineering, and sustainable architecture.
The jury
In addition to the funding of $1000, the winners of the 3D Hubs 3D Printing Student Grant will also receive support from the company in developing connections in the industry. 3D Hubs will also provide all technical support needed to turn the prototype into a marketable product.
The winners will be selected by a jury consisting of engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs. They will be judged on the basis of presentation which amounts to 40% of the project, innovation and impact of the project (30%), and the reason for using 3D printing as the best manufacturing method for their product (30%).
All the finalists in each category will also receive an official 3D Hubs certificate.
Source: 3dprintingindustry
