The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona has already secured agreements with the Leitat Foundation and the Cameral Institute Foundation for the Creation and Development of Companies (INCYDE), to open the call for companies and startups interested in participating in the first European High-Tech 3D Printing Incubator, the dFactory Incubator. The deadline for submitting applications is October 31.
The special delegate of the State in the Consorci, Pere Navarro, and the president of INCYDE, Josep Lluís Bonet, have signed in recent days the collaboration agreement that accredits them as strategic partners in Catalonia in the technological transfer of 3D additive manufacturing processes for new business projects. The high-tech incubator for the promotion of innovation and 3D technological transfer to companies and micro-SMEs is 50% co-financed, through INCYDE, by the European Regional Development Fund within the Pluriregional Operational Program of Spain FEDER 2014 -2020.
CAPACITY TO HOST UP TO 30 INITIATIVES IN 3D PRINTING
The dFactory Incubator center, with capacity to simultaneously provide services to between 25 and 30 initiatives linked to 3D printing, will incubate additive manufacturing projects from those companies selected among those that respond to the current call.
The dFactory Incubator will occupy 600 m² in office spaces, coworking, training area and laboratories equipped with latest generation 3D printers in the Consorci's headquarters building in the Zona Franca Industrial Park (Av. Parc Logístic 2- 10. Parc Logístic stop on Metro line 9 South). The investment required for the adaptation of the facilities, the purchase of equipment and the provision of the described services amounts to 2.9 million euros.
The incubator aims to contribute to boosting the productive transformation of small and medium-sized companies towards the industry 4.0 environment so that, aligned with the objectives of the EU2020 and Horizon 2020 Strategy, it will promote interregional cooperation, as well as collaboration between public sector agents and companies, both nationally and internationally.
Specifically, the services that the incubator will provide are related to the development of business initiatives, 3D printing, provision of technological services, innovation, support for the commercialization and internationalization of projects, and certification, validation and testing, among others.
Featured image: The special delegate of the State in the Consorci, Pere Navarro, with the president of INCYDE, Josep Lluís Bonet