Aric Rindfleisch on 3D Printing and MakerSpaces

Aric Rindfleisch makes his presentation. (Photo: US Consulate Azores)
Aric Rindfleisch makes his presentation.

In association with the American Corner network and other partners, the American Embassy Lisbon organized the visit to Portugal of Aric Rindfleisch, executive director of the Illinois MakerLab, the world’s first maker lab located in a business school. Prof. Rindfleisch spoke at a series of engagements related to 3D printing discussing the origins of this technology and how to effectively use it as a tool for small business development.

The first stop on his schedule was in the Azores where he participated in the workshop “3D printing”, held in Expolab – Life Science Center (city of Lagoa in S. Miguel) under coordination of the University of the Azores. As part of his travel, Aric Rindfleisch also visited the University of Lisbon’s School of Arts and Humanities (FLUL), FCT-Nova, the University of Aveiro, the University of Porto – Creative Industries (UPTEC PINC) and the University of Minho. Each talk was followed by an extra 30 minutes for a Q&As session.

Reaching out to hundreds of university students, entrepreneurs and business start-ups in the Azores, Lisbon, Aveiro, Porto and Braga, the goal of the 3D printing workshops was to introduce participants to the advantages and disadvantages of using this technology in a professional and domestic context, under both a theoretical and practical perspective.

For those interested in learning more about 3D printing Prof. Rindfleisch offers a popular Coursera course on 3D printing.