An Expert Meeting relating to the European Commission funded ‘Study into the Intellectual Property (IP) Implications of Industrial 3D Printing’ was held on 9 November 2018 at the European Commission Brussels.

It was led by CIPPM Co-Director and Principal Investigator of the project, Professor Dinusha Mendis  and included other CIPPM members Dr. Julie Robson (Co-Investigator) of the Faculty of Management and Dr. Marc Mimler.

The expert meeting included invitees from the industrial, policy and academic sectors thereby drawing on views from key stakeholders in this field. Representative organisations included the EU Intellectual Property Office, European Patent Office, CECIMO, Materialise, HP, Prodintec amongst others.

The EU-funded project led by CIPPM/Bournemouth University, consists of other UK and European partners including University of Glasgow, Scotland; Added Scientific Ltd UK, Technopolis Group Vienna Austria, University of Lapland, Finland and Boehmert & Boehmert, Munich Germany. The project is currently in progress and is due for completion in May 2019.

The project aims to provide an overview of the past and current industrial applications of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in selected sectors whilst identifying potential challenges and opportunities in need of clarification. In essence, the Study will aim to formulate a clear picture of the Intellectual Property (IP) framework that could enhance the competitiveness of the AM sector in Europe.

The current work builds on the Commissioned project on the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D Printing, which Professor Mendis led for the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) between 2013-2015 and the AHRC/CREATe project which Professor Mendis led between 2015-2017.