The Danish Industry Foundation is now further accelerating the adoption of industrial 3D printing through a reinvestment in Dansk AM Hub, which works to promote Additive Manufacturing (AM) among Danish manufacturing companies and, over the next four years, will make Denmark a global leader in using AM for sustainable manufacturing.
An emergency stockpile of protective equipment in the fight against COVID-19.
A unified AM ecosystem—from experts to users to developers.
400 small and medium-sized enterprises inspired and engaged in programmes, of which 100 have gained tangible competitive advantages and taken an important step towards more sustainable manufacturing.
Scandinavia’s largest AM conference, held on Danish soil.
A completely new cohort of entrepreneurs using AM as a lever for their business model, and a growing international focus on Denmark as a country that masters the manufacturing technology of the future.
The list of Dansk AM Hub’s results in the first four years is long—and impressive.
It has been possible to raise awareness of the industrial use of 3D printing technology, articulate and develop the business-strategic value of additive manufacturing into methods that have in turn been used to create improved production processes, products, or value chains for Danish manufacturing companies.
The results have only been made possible through a grant from the Danish Industry Foundation, which initiated Dansk AM Hub in 2017 to promote the use and understanding of AM / 3D printing in Danish industry. And now the same foundation is injecting new energy and support into the work with another grant.
“Companies’ ability to manufacture sustainably will become even more important to their competitiveness in the future. Building on Dansk AM Hub’s strong results to date, we are now further increasing our efforts to realise the great opportunities offered by AM technology, which has significant potential to make companies’ manufacturing far more sustainable. At the same time, our ambition is that this will inspire further use of technology and digitalisation among the manufacturing companies that take on AM,” says Thomas Hofman-Bang, CEO of the Danish Industry Foundation.
A united front among foundations
Both Dansk AM Hub and the Danish Industry Foundation want to leverage the competitiveness-enhancing effect of AM technology, and in particular its green impact. The vision is to become the world’s first and leading member organisation that, in addition to strengthening competitiveness and growth, also measures initiatives by the concrete elimination of CO2, thereby documenting the sustainable manufacturing of the future on Danish soil.
Today, Dansk AM Hub has just under 50 members, including major manufacturers such as Lego and Grundfos; major international technology suppliers such as Stratasys, HP and EOS; Danish AM developers such as Damvig, Addifab and CreateitReal; and a strong core of small and medium-sized Danish manufacturing companies. Within the framework of Dansk AM Hub, they are working to create a future in which we manufacture with less material, waste and transport, while designing, developing and producing more customised, durable and energy-efficient products by leveraging the possibilities of AM technology.
“With Dansk AM Hub, it is therefore not merely a project that has been established, but a movement to leverage the opportunities of AM technology to create more sustainable manufacturing. We must now continue the work of making Denmark a global leader in using additive manufacturing to deliver very concrete sustainable results that can be measured and verified,” says Tue Mantoni, Chair of the Board of Dansk AM Hub, and expresses great satisfaction that the Danish Industry Foundation continues to see Dansk AM Hub’s potential and invests in the collaboration for the long term.
Internationally, too, there are many opportunities that Dansk AM Hub will explore in the coming period.
“The world around us must see that our green energy from our many wind turbines can also create the green products of the future,” says Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen, CEO of Dansk AM Hub, emphasising that several international players such as Apple and Facebook have already recognised the potential of our Danish green renewable energy, in which they have invested in large data centres. Now the major international manufacturers and technology suppliers must also turn their attention to Denmark, so that we can be at the forefront as the manufacturing systems of the future are created.
“The time has come for Denmark to show the rest of the world how we design, develop and manufacture the products of the future,” says Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen.
