A PTE 3D Printing and Visualisation Centre was made possible by a HUF 1.85 billion grant from the European Union, which the institution received in 2017 with its consortium partner, a University of Debrecen was awarded a GINOP grant under the Széchenyi 2020 programme. The Faculty of Engineering and Informatics has thus created an exciting, open and effective intellectual workshop on its campus, both in terms of equipment and relevant expertise. At the closing event of the project on 16 December, the Minister of Innovation and Technology, Dr László Palkovics, visited the centre.
The 3D Printing and Visualization Center of the University of Pécs uniquely combines equipment and expertise with innovation opportunities in a diverse university environment. The PTE 3D Project, as a prominent regional strategic program, was born as a direct initiative of the rector, and brought together the relevant innovation efforts of several faculties - the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of General Medicine, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Economics – The establishment of the Center began in 2016 with the involvement of tender resources and government and European Union support. Today it is
At the closing ceremony , Dr. Rector Attila Miseta greeted the participants, among whom were Dr. Katalin Szili, dr. Éva Mikes, many members of the university's management, project participants, and a large number of interested people. In his speech, he said that the project ended successfully and that the set educational and research goals were fully realized by the colleagues.
Summed up the rector. Chancellor István Decsi spoke about the PTE 3D project as an exemplary and fruitful collaboration: "I believe that this project can serve as a model in the coming period for how different areas of the university can successfully cooperate and implement socially and economically useful development that in the next period, we may have a special need, we may have an opportunity."
Then Dr. Miklós Nyitrai , the dean of ÁOK, the professional leader of the project, summarized the importance of the project as follows: "For us, it was a dream that has now come true - we don't think it's finished." The dean described the steps and process of implementing an interdisciplinary center, which is very attractive to both young people and companies, based on his personal impressions:
highlighted dr. Miklós Nyitrai. In his reminiscence, he presented many aspects of the project, from the organization of 3D international conferences, to opening up to society and the market, to team building: "I consider it a serious challenge to speak to representatives of different fields of science, faculties and professions," emphasized the professional leader. Looking to the future, he emphasized how important he considers it to be to retain the professionals involved in the project: "People are the true treasures of this center, as they have proven over the past three or four years that they form a capable team." Several directions for further development are being examined, including educational development: "The 3D Center is a unique university facility throughout the country, which can be the engine of professional, educational and economic utilization of the future," outlined the dean.
The head of the PTE 3D Center, Summarizing the experiences of the past three years, dr. Péter Maróti said that the challenge was that, on the one hand, 3D printing was a new field at the university, and on the other hand, during the creation and design of the center, the already existing machines had to be operated, and in the meantime, the professional results , publications were also of particular importance. "From the beginning, the 3D Center's concept was to be able to create a bridge between the academic and market spheres. We would like to implement this as a self-sustaining system," emphasized the expert.
The professional management of the program placed great emphasis on making it possible to implement all development phases in-house, from technical planning to physical implementation, so that the creation of ready-made, marketable products from the idea to the final product is possible even from scratch. Among the workshops dealing with 3D technologies, the scientific preparation of the team of experts and the variety and multidisciplinarity of the projects stand out.
For example, prosthetics within personalized medicine; development and small series production of various simulators for general medical training; rapid prototyping for industrial players that utilizes the cost-effectiveness of the additive manufacturing process; making masterpieces for castings; creation of concept models for tenders, in addition to this, the exploration of the possibilities of cooperation in the production of vehicle components has begun. Priority is given to 3D imaging solutions (such as 3D scanning, photogrammetry, virtual and augmented reality-based solutions), the areas of 3D-based education and design (especially to support medical training areas), as well as the unique development of related software solutions. The special professional and high-quality innovative environment culminated in collaborations and projects such as joint work with the prosthetic design and manufacturing company CorvusMed, and the establishment of Prolimb, a university spin-off company created to develop the Ember Arm artificial intelligence-controlled artificial limb capable of learning. The development of a bioprinter in the framework of cooperation with the Faculty of Pharmacy and the performance of 3D material technology tests aimed at biocompatibility and sterilizability serve specifically practical purposes . For the PTE Clinical Center, surgical drill and cutting templates (Neurosurgery Clinic), medical hand tools (Dentistry and Oral Surgery Clinic), and simulation models (Pediatrics Clinic) are being developed and produced.
It can now be confidently stated that the 3D initiative is one of PTE's success stories. All those involved in the implementation agree that the closing event did not mark the end of a project, but marked the beginning of something even greater. The management and staff of the PTE 3D Printing and Visualization Center are committed to making the institution a significant educational and scientific center in the very near future, both domestically and internationally. An intellectual workshop that can effectively and efficiently support the implementation of further university and regional development plans and the university's marketing processes.
As a special educational infrastructure, scientific workshop and service center - where the most modern 3D technologies are available - it will certainly continue to attract highly qualified professionals and support innovation processes in a systematic way. The next stage of these is the opening towards university and community education. An excellent example of the former is the involvement in the creation and launch of the Biomedical Engineering master's program (Healthcare Engineer MSc) , launched in English , and the latter is the organization of the constantly expanding courses teaching various 3D technologies, such as printing and design. A longer-term goal is to make use of the acquired knowledge and experience on the international scientific scene, the flagship of which could eventually be the M3D-Vision platform, which will eventually enable inter-university education programs at the EU level. In the next major strategic program of the University of Pécs, the creation of the Science and Innovation Park, the PTE 3D Center will also play a fundamental role thanks to the special knowledge and experience accumulated by its unique team of professionals over the years, as well as its equipment park of a complexity not available elsewhere in this form.
"The strict demarcation of individual fields of science is becoming less and less possible and justified, so the research groups that develop and manage their studies taking this into account are the most likely to be successful. This requires a high degree of mental openness and brave, timely steps. The embodiment of this thinking is the 3D Center.
(GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00022, "Development of an interdisciplinary research, education and development center using 3D printing and visualization technologies at the University of Pécs")