MakerBot, Xavier University Partner for Innovation Center

Xavier University and MakerBot have entered an agreement to open a MakerBot Innovation Center on the university's campus. Xavier is the first university in the Midwest to implement an Innovation Center. These centers, according to the company, are designed to empower organizations to innovate faster, collaborate better and compete more efficiently.

The center at Xavier is customized to meet the specific needs of the university. Students, faculty and community members now have access to materials that enable them to collaborate on real-time prototyping, model making and small-scale creative and manufacturing projects. It includes 31 Replicator 3D printers, a supply of PLA (polylactic acid) filament and several Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanners and protection plans.

Also implemented is the MakerBot Innovation Center Management Platform, a software that links all Replicator 3D printers together, providing remote access, print queuing and mass production of prints.

“We’re so excited to be the first private institution in the country and the first university in the Midwest region to partner with MakerBot,” said Shawn Nason, chief innovation officer with Xavier University. “Our mission at Xavier University is to educate our students so that they are able to make the world a better place. We’re positioned to do just that with the unique 3D printing and prototyping technology of MakerBot! With these innovative MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers, we will transform how our students learn here at the Xavier Center for Innovation and beyond. With MakerBot, we’ll not only be ‘making’ 3D objects in our classrooms, but helping shape the leaders and innovators of future industries as well.”

For more information, visit MakerBot and Xavier University.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.