To conclude with the BIEMH Talks, today additive manufacturing has been the protagonist. The Additive Talks Keynote focused on the future and the great challenges of Additive Manufacturing. For this, the panel of speakers has had an exceptional protagonist as Haden Quinlan, Senior Program Director at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who has reviewed the particular relationship of the prestigious American Institute from a presentation in which it has been clear that the potential of this technology in the coming years will star in an extraordinary takeoff. “In the next decade we are going to witness an impressive take-off of Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing”, warned Quinlan.

During his speech, it became clear that innovation is playing a key role, for example, in the development of new materials such as a more stable and robust aluminum alloy that MIT has developed and that allows it to tackle even large-scale prospecting. “As far as Additive Manufacturing is concerned, the innovation processes we can say that they are already at a very mature stage and focused on what the customer really needs,” added the expert. In this line, he insisted on the need to reflect on the need to relate training efforts in AF and organizational competence in AF.

The final part was dedicated to the future of Additive Manufacturing in situ, a technology “that is already a reality in some very specific sectors and in very incipient projects” but that does not yet have the necessary standards to be considered a mature technology. However,” he concluded, ”I would recommend keeping a close eye on it over the next few years because it could have a very interesting future in space projects. “It will be very interesting in the future, but there are still challenges to be overcome.