Shared and Neutral Validation Environments
The focus of this Good Practice is on how shared pilot facilities, industrial demonstrators and interregional collaboration can accelerate the industrial adoption of additive manufacturing (AM). While many AM innovations show significant promise in laboratory environments, companies often lack access to the specialised equipment, expertise and production environments required to validate new technologies under realistic manufacturing conditions. As a result, promising innovations frequently struggle to progress from prototype development to industrial deployment.
The 3DoP project addressed this challenge by creating a network of shared validation environments and industrial demonstrators across Europe. Bringing together 33 partners from 8 countries, the project enabled companies to test new materials, manufacturing processes, automation concepts and product designs under real production conditions. By reducing technical, financial and market risks, these facilities helped accelerate the transition from research results to industrial implementation.
Rather than focusing on a single technology, 3DoP addressed multiple bottlenecks that currently limit wider industrial adoption of additive manufacturing: production costs, process reliability, automation, quality control, integration of electronics, repair and remanufacturing, and the industrialisation of customised products.
3DoP established a network of interconnected pilot environments covering four complementary additive manufacturing value chains.
The first value chain focused on metal additive manufacturing. Pilot activities demonstrated cost-effective metal printing technologies based on Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) feedstocks, advanced ColdMetalFusion processes, and repair technologies such as Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) and Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). These facilities allowed companies to validate repair and remanufacturing approaches for high-value industrial components, while also exploring the use of recycled metal feedstocks and sustainable production methods. One of the resulting applications, a 3D-printed catalytic reactor for air purification, progressed from laboratory validation to commercial deployment and first customer sales.
The second value chain focused on embedded electronics and smart tooling. Four specialised pilot lines were established across Europe to support the development of lightweight products integrating structural components, electronics and additive manufacturing. These facilities enabled the production of flexible LED foils, the integration of electronics into lightweight structural panels, the manufacturing of advanced moulds with embedded sensors through metal 3D printing, and the automated forming and inspection of final products. The pilot lines demonstrated that electronics can be successfully integrated into complex components while maintaining functionality during forming, moulding and production processes.
The third value chain addressed automation and quality control in dental manufacturing, one of the most mature application areas for additive manufacturing. Pilot environments enabled the development and validation of automated handling systems, robotic part identification, quality inspection and process-integrated metrology. High-accuracy bore-hole inspection systems were developed and validated for dental prostheses, while automated handling concepts reduced manual interventions in production workflows. These facilities demonstrated how highly customised products can be manufactured more efficiently while maintaining strict quality requirements.
The fourth value chain focused on factory automation and post-processing for additive manufacturing. A series of modular automation solutions were developed and integrated into pilot production environments, including autonomous part feeding, identification, sorting, routing, quality control and finishing. The resulting demonstrators showed how additive manufacturing can evolve from isolated production cells into highly automated production environments capable of handling high-mix and high-volume production. Advanced inline quality control systems and AI-supported process optimisation further reduced the barriers to industrial deployment.
Together, these pilot environments formed a distributed European validation ecosystem where companies could test new technologies under realistic conditions without investing in expensive infrastructure themselves. The facilities also enabled collaboration between material suppliers, machine developers, software providers, automation specialists, manufacturers and end-users, creating integrated value chains that extend beyond the duration of the project.
The pilot environments and industrial demonstrators created within 3DoP successfully supported the transition of multiple technologies from laboratory validation towards industrial deployment.
Several solutions reached high technology readiness levels, including market-ready metal additive manufacturing applications, industrial automation modules and advanced quality-control systems. The project also generated significant follow-on investments, public funding and commercial activities, demonstrating strong market interest in the developed technologies.
Research organisations, technology developers, industrial companies, regional development agencies and public authorities worked together within the pilot environments, creating a collaborative ecosystem that continued generating new projects and investments beyond the project's lifetime.
The approach implemented in 3DoP is highly replicable because it is based on a modular and collaborative ecosystem model rather than on a single production facility.
Regions seeking to accelerate industrial innovation can replicate the approach by creating shared validation environments that combine technology providers, research organisations, industrial users and public stakeholders. While the exact technologies may differ depending on regional strengths, the key success factors remain the same: open access to facilities, trusted host organisations, strong industrial involvement, and collaboration across the entire value chain.
Successful replication also requires investment in skilled technical personnel who can support companies throughout the validation process and help bridge the gap between research and industrial implementation.