Electronics manufacturing technology specialist Nano Dimension is collaborating with Germany’s Fraunhofer IPA Institute. The collaboration between the two organisations will focus on pushing the boundaries of 3D printing technology.

Florida based Nano Dimension is a specialist in Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME) and Printed Electronics (PE) manufacturing systems. Fraunhofer IPA is the Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, and is one of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s (the Institute) largest institutes.

Under the two-year collaboration plan, Nano Dimension and Fraunhofer IPA will focus on research and development within the field of autonomous fabrication of electromechanical systems based on 3D freeform printing and the highest precision 3D assembly technologies. The outcomes of this collaboration should benefit Nano Dimension customers given the insights that will be generated and incorporated into what is already uniquely possible with Nano Dimension’s DragonFly additive manufacturing system.

The collaboration between the two comes as Germany announces plans to bring semiconductor and electronics manufacturing back from China as the country’s manufacturing and auto industries have been hit by semiconductor shortages. The country’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has held talks with industry representatives and announced plans to invest several billion euros to bring semiconductor production back to Europe, with the aim of strengthening German technological sovereignty.

Oliver Refle, Head of the Additive Manufacturing Department at Fraunhofer IPA, commented: “This brain trust will allow both parties to instantly analyse and improve processes by sharing ideas, data and expertise, as we develop the next generation of 3D inkjet printing with the goal of creating new and better processes and integrations for the ultra-accurate printing of new high-performance electronic devices (Hi-PEDs). Nano Dimension is a valued and trusted partner, and we are very excited to begin this new partnership.”

Yoav Stern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nano Dimension, commented: “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to cooperate and learn from the world-class engineers and scientists at Fraunhofer IPA. We can learn from both their successes and failures while contributing our expertise and knowledge as we work together to build an ecofriendly and intelligent distributed network of additively manufacturing self-learning & self-improving machines, which will deliver a superior ROI to their owners as well as to Nano Dimension shareholders and other stakeholders.”