Motivated by our successful workshop for orthopedic and medical technicians earlier this year, we want to hold on to this approach of specification. In order to promote an intensive and more in-depth exchange among interested parties on specific topics, we decided to emulate the structure of our MGA Mobility Working Group and launched two Focus Groups within the MGA Medical Working Groups Use Cases and Materials:

Working Group Use Cases: Focus Group “OT & Medtech”
In our new Focus Group “OT & Medtech” we will address questions all around the field of orthopedic and medical technology such as orthoses, prostheses and other medical technology applications and software. From development and manufacturing to testing and standardization, the field of potential topics is huge. Our aim is to discuss solutions, that are as relevant as possible for you. Therefore, we would be happy to have you contribute topics, ideas or even problems and hurdles that you are facing.

Working Group Materials: Focus Group “Analyses & Processing”
Environmental sustainability in AM is not just about saving material, but also about material reuse and recycling. We want to take a closer look at this exciting topic as part of our new “Analyses & Processing” Focus Group. Can materials for medical applications be recycled, and if so, how? What standards are applicable and necessary for this? What are the restrictions and possibilities? We would like to address all of these and many more questions together.

We already have our sights set on the first project: we want to join forces to investigate and test recycled and reused materials for specific use cases – and we are still looking for further collaborators. So, if you have components and/or materials that you could imagine for such a project, feel free to contact us already to save your place in the project!

When we launched our Medical Division in 2019 many members had their doubts about this project – but since then AM in the medical sector has become more and more important. Which is why we thought it is high time for a conference that focuses solely on AM applications in that sector.

Luckily, with IPM we found a partner who believed in that idea as much as we did and with the support of the other founding partners, KUMOVIS, ottobock and the University hospital Basel, on November 22 & 23 the AM Medical Days took place for the first time at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin.

With MGA Medical largely responsible for setting the topics and the list of speakers, we were already expecting a lot from this conference, knowing that such esteemed speakers like Prof. Dr. Ute Schäfer from the Medical University Graz and Dr. Florian Thieringer from the University Hospital Basel would be on stage, but our expectations were exceeded by far: The AM Medical Days 2021 were two days full of examples of innovative AM applications in medicine and medical technology as well as interesting discussions with the expert guests. And to start it all there was a very nice evening reception at Ottobock, where Güngör Kara opened the window wide to digital transformation in orthopedic technology.

It was amazing to see that even during the current crisis it is possible to hold a save event and we were happy to meet so many physicians, hospital workers, medical technology manufacturers and representatives from regulatory authorities as well as health insurance companies and to talk about the technological shift towards additive medicine. And of course in the small exhibition it was also great to talk to AM solution providers, such as printer manufacturers, material suppliers and service providers.

A big thank you to IPM AG – Institute for Production Management, who once again did a wonderful job with this hybrid event and to all participants, especially to all physicians, who have taken time for this event despite the corona pandemic and the critical situation in the clinics. Together we are on the right way, we boost AM! And this was only the beginning, next year’s AM Medical Days will take place on October 19 & 20 in Berlin and will be even bigger and better.

Since the founding of our Medical Division in 2019, it has become more and more apparent that additive manufacturing and the medical industry are a perfect match. Under the leadership of Dr. Cora Lüders-Theuerkauf, Medical goes Additive has worked on many topics over the last two years and produced great results like the MDR decision tree.

Find out what happened in the division in the last weeks here:

Kick Off new working group Pharmaceutics

What a great start! On 28 October, the new working group Pharmaceutics was launched and representatives from Merck, Takeda, Körber, Uhlmann and Syntegon participated in. Two fantastic keynotes with different focuses on topics that are driving the pharma industry – drug development and the availability of spare parts – nevertheless highlighted the shared themes: AM needs to become more visible in pharma to show the added value for all stakeholders. Ideas and visions were listed and initial topics of focus for the next meetings were identified. All players in the value chain – material manufacturers, suppliers and pharmaceutical companies – are welcome to attend.

Working Group Hospitals

On 13 October, we had the pleasure of once again listening to Jonathan Morris in a virtual keynote on “Point of Care Manufacturing.” His almost never-ending repertoire of clinical use cases turns him into one of the pioneers of additive manufacturing in hospitals. His ideas for implementing additive manufacturing and demonstrating the real benefits for patients are now part of daily life at the Mayo Clinic. We in Germany also benefit from this expertise. Many thanks again to Jonathan!

Workshop Orthopedics

On 30 September, the first workshop for orthopedic and medical technicians took place within the MGA Medical Approval working group. 12 representatives from certified bodies, handicraft and orthopedic companies participated and exchanged experiences on the topic of “test procedures and test methods”. In the workshop, we opened Pandora’s box and identified so many topics that a series of workshops will now be established from them, starting in the Use Cases working group next year.