AMiCE Info-Market

With the AMiCE Info-Market, held as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Zittau University of Applied Sciences, the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences brought topics related to digitalization—using additive manufacturing as an example—and the associated circular economy to the city of Zittau. Participants from regional companies, as well as representatives from domestic and international research institutions, accepted the invitation to learn about and discuss current developments in additive manufacturing and issues related to the circular economy in an interdisciplinary setting.

The event began with a presentation of the AMiCE project and the tasks and objectives of the Enterprise Europe Network. In the area of additive manufacturing, Mr. Thomas Scholz, Managing Director of Arno Hentschel GmbH and an alumnus of HSZG, introduced the change process. Mr. Scholz described the introduction of the new technology and the associated complex issues regarding strategy, network, and human resources development for companies. Furthermore, issues related to risk and customer management were examined. The Fraunhofer Center for Plastics in Upper Lusatia—Institute for Machine Tools and Metal Forming (IWU) in Zittau—supplemented this topic by presenting the institute’s current technologies as well as approaches within the framework of the circular economy and the laser sintering process.

Additive manufacturing presents challenges as well as great potential for socio-ecological research aimed at solving sustainability problems. This requires interdisciplinary and problem-solving-oriented collaboration among researchers, producers, and consumers, which was strengthened and expanded through the AMiCE Info-Market.