Waterloo to create global-scale additive manufacturing lab

The Univ of Waterloo has secured $22.4 million cash and $5 million in in-kind support to establish a Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab that’s expected to generate 18 new partnerships, create more than 80 jobs and commercialize 21 advanced manufacturing technologies. Core funding of $8.9 million comes from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev) through the Investing in Commercialization Partnerships initiative, announced in 2013. The Ontario government is also providing $6.2 million — the largest investment the province has made in post-secondary advanced manufacturing (AM). The lab will focus on AM technologies (industrial 3D printing) to process metals with new sensors, machine intelligence and quality-assurance software. To date it has attracted industry partners from the aerospace, mining and automotive sectors. The lab builds on years of technology development at the university with dozens of professors, engineers, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and co-op students slated to participate. Once fully ramped up, it’s expected to be among the 10 largest university-based AM facilities in the world.