Advanced Additive Manufacturing and Healthcare Technology Development

Fundació Centre CIM (CIM UPC) offers multidisciplinary expertise in additive manufacturing, advanced materials, digital production and technology transfer. We support research institutions, healthcare organisations and industrial companies in developing, manufacturing and validating innovative products and processes.

Our expertise includes:

• Additive manufacturing technologies: FFF, FGF, SLS, SLA, DLP, SLM, DED, WAAM and Direct Ink Writing.

• Advanced materials: engineering polymers, high-temperature polymers, polymer–mineral composites, bioactive materials and functional materials.

• Multi-material manufacturing: material integration, composite architectures, interfaces and process optimisation.

• Healthcare applications: personalised implants, anatomical models, regenerative scaffolds, medical devices and veterinary solutions.

• Digital design and manufacturing: patient-specific design, complex geometries, lattice and gyroid structures, digital workflows and design for additive manufacturing.

• Process development: parameter optimisation, manufacturing feasibility, prototyping, post-processing and scale-up.

• Functional and intelligent printing: integration of sensing, responsive materials and additional functionality into additively manufactured structures.

• Technology transfer and project development: feasibility assessment, experimental planning, consortium building, proposal preparation and coordination of collaborative R&D projects.

A current area of interest is the development of VETREGEN, a personalised regenerative veterinary implant concept combining a PEKK structural scaffold with a biodegradable and bioactive PCL–bioactive glass phase. This work brings together high-temperature polymer additive manufacturing, composite processing, scaffold architecture, biomaterials and biological validation.

We are particularly interested in sharing our expertise with partners seeking support in:

• Translating research concepts into manufacturable demonstrators.

• Selecting suitable materials and additive manufacturing technologies.

• Developing complex or patient-specific geometries.

• Optimising processes for advanced polymers and composites.

• Integrating complementary manufacturing technologies.

• Designing experimental and validation strategies.

• Preparing collaborative research and innovation projects.

• Assessing routes towards industrialisation and technology transfer.

Our approach combines scientific understanding with practical engineering and manufacturing experience, with the objective of developing reliable, application-oriented and scalable solutions.