The Netherlands has 29 fieldlabs, places where innovation in robotics and big data originate. The editors of VNO-NCW magazine FORUM made a report and started at our fieldlab in Drachten.
An excerpt from the report
A huge blue steel furnace, that's what the 3D metal printer looks like. But one that costs 700,000 euros. With this one in the field lab at Philips in Drachten, Friesland, you can't print funny little dolls of yourself, or cute key chains. ‘Pancake printers are that,’ according to Kor Visscher, ‘a hype.’ Visscher works at Philips and is president of the Innovatiecluster Drachten, to which this field lab belongs. In this association, seventeen high-tech companies from the north of the Netherlands - large and small - work together. The goal: to offer solutions when it comes to robotics, 3D printing and processing large amounts of data, big data. One of their initiatives is to set up this field lab, where (digital) smart industry technologies are developed and tested. The metal printer turns steel powder into steel objects in different - mainly round - shapes. Visscher: ‘As a result, you need 50 percent less material, allowing you to make lighter and stronger constructions. Ideal for aerospace companies, for example.
Read the whole report on the VNO-NCW website or in the latest issue of FORUM.