In recent years, an ecosystem has formed in the field of medical 3D printing. Researchers from Saxion University of applied sciences work together with Medical Spectrum Twente (MST), Hospital Group Twente (ZGT), Roessingh, OCON, and various (commercial) partners. Within the ecosystem, 3D printing is used to make preoperative models, sawing molds and simple medical devices.

A next step in the field of medical 3D printing, which is in line with the movement toward value-driven, personalized care, is the 3D printing of personalized medical devices such as prosthetics, orthoses and splints. Despite promising developments (including a customized tracheal cannula and a personalized pessary), however, hospitals are not yet succeeding in scaling thus up to a larger scale. There are technological challenges, but also questions about the design process and the implementation of the person-centered devices in the care process.

This project uses the existing ecosystem as a 'living lab' to further explore these 3 challenges in 4 design cases. The knowledge from the cases will be translated into solutions for the entire ecosystem.