ith new materials and new types of printers being added to the processes in combination with enhanced software for design - one crucial key is the availability of skilled individuals that can manage the challenge of this quick development.

To build new teams will require a combination of new knowledge mixed with experience in the business and manufacturing processes.

In the SME Medical AM3DP Annual Report 2018 there are three new jobs pointed out for the medical section of AM and 3DP:

• Medical 3D Printing Engineer
  
• Medical AM Engineer
• Medical AM/3D Printing Technologist

But the list of new job titles will be much longer than this and new educational programs and courses will be required to meet the needs of organizations working in the field.

Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing in general are growing domains in both public organizations and in business. Not at least does it open for Small Businesses to Contract Manufacturing and other Subcontract services. In the area of Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing there are so many different stages in a complete process that we can see new types of clusters popping up - providing flexible teams, working for a number of end user domains.
The merge of traditional industries and new types is a very interesting process - and there is definitely room for entrepreneurs and innovators in this market and what it will cover along the emerging technologies and tools used in the processes of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.

Friday 9th March 2018 - the SME Academy Network arranged an online workshop with Robotics and 3D printing in focus and ROTENA as a key speaker. Participants from several European countries and Mauritius made the workshop an inspiring experience and many topics were discussed, based on the findings in the ROTENA report and the input from all participants.

During the workshop Dr. Paul Quantock, EU 15 ltd,  presented the project ROTENA and the results from the research made in the first stage of the project. In the second part of the workshop the curriculum and the training modules were presented by Lino Ferreira, CEPROF, and Rafaele Silva , Ovar Forma, our Portuguese partners and leaders of the training module IO.

On the SME Academy web you can find the Workshop and the two videos from it - part 1 and part 2 - and as they are uploaded to Youtube you can share or embed them if you want to share the information and the dialogue with your colleagues.

Do you want to learn the basics about 3D printing, Technical Drawing, Computer Aided Design, Electronics and Micro controller programming ? Registration is now open for Pilot testers of our new short video modules.
5 short and easy to use video modules - register today and you will get login credentials to the training package.

We also need feedback from professionals - already teaching these topics. Check the modules - and maybe you can find something useful to introduce into your own courses.
Register to have a look at the training modules.

A clear majority of small and medium-sized enterprises plans on implementing robotics in their work processes in the future, which emphasizes the need for workers who are skilled in these fields.

Dr Paul Quantock, Coordinator and Promoter of the ROTENA project stated that “..it confirms our view that the outputs of the project will contribute to the needs of the labour market as well as the training sector by developing appropriate training modules for use by training institutions, with the expectation that they will adapt/modify modules to their required needs and add to existing training programmes…"

The project’s first activity was to study and determine the conditions under which robotics and 3D printing training flourishes within Europe.ROTENA presents the first outcomes and findings
The project’s first activity was to study and determine the conditions under which robotics and 3D printing training flourishes within Europe.

Benchmarking:
Implementing desk based work on available basic robotics/3D printing training.

Analytical activities:
Carrying out a European survey and data collection activity on the use and value of robotics and 3D printing training.

Training activities:
​
Developing an introductory training programme, incorporating a combination of robotics competition activities and curriculum, designed to help teachers/trainers to teach programming skills to young people to enable them to gain knowledge and experience of these new technologies, including the use and application of 3D printing (which can be used to build the component parts of robots). The training modules can be easily added to existing training programme already available.

Mutual learning, exchange of good practices, cooperation:
Promoting good practices of training at the European level.

With new technologies emerging and entering in to the world of work, business, manufacturing, logistics, education and a number of other domains - the need for new skills is obvious for employers, employees, students, teachers and all involved in the process of matching needs of competences and providing them.

In the European Robotics/3D Training Survey the preliminary results are ready. The Survey shows that 79% of the SMEs have identified tasks that can be automated in the future.
The survey addressed SMEs, training providers and individuals and received a 19% response from representatives of SMEs, 24% from representatives of training providers and 57% from individuals.

As a first step in the project we need to know what you know and think about robotics and 3D-printing. Is it something that you are interested in or not? Can you see it as a future job or a new Business opportunity?

Spend 1-2 minutes and take our survey here.

​We will share the results with you once we collected the responses and put them together in a report.

From our Newsletter in ROTENA - How will this project bring value to small and medium sized businesses?

"​...for SMEs Having access to a growing pool of individuals with an increasing awareness, and increasing skill set, and who have the skills to take your SME forward to more effectively compete to secure new business. "

Read the Newsletter to learn more about ROTENA and the definitions of 3D-printing and Robotics.