The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), as part of its continous outreach efforts about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shares this story related to Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, submitted by Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University, a UNAI member institution located in Ukraine.
20 August 2018 - The Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University (Ukraine), a member institution of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), recently inaugurated the Scientific and Educational Innovation Center for 3D Technologies FabLab, within the framework of the European project Erasmus +. The goal of the FabLab project is to create conditions for the development of innovation and engineering creativity while at the same time improving the employability of students through the interaction between the university and the industrial and business sectors.
For this institution, FabLab is without any doubt an integral part of the innovative infrastructure on campus and we hope an active implementation of it for prototyping, 3D printing and 3D modeling technologies into the educational process of all specialties and, in particular, Engineering, says Petro Yasniy, Rector of the university. The Center has been designed with the specific purpose of seeking practical solutions, stimulating youth entrepreneurship and enhancing the quality of training specialists, students, postgraduates and creative youth of the institution.
Inventive problem solving and automated design are two of the many areas in which FabLab is particularly useful nowadays. It is equipped with 3D printers, laser and milling machines with numerical control, 3D scanner, integrated with computer stations of the automated system of technological preparation of production on the basis of modern software, as well as electronic prototyping kits. Commonly, this innovative type of laboratory has flexible computer-controlled tools that cover several different length scales and materials of distinct nature.
The concept of FabLab, which is based on the idea of personal digital production and empowement using a small-scale workshop, was invented two decades ago. Since then, the idea of FabLab has spread throughout the world, gained popularity in several countries and being known as open labs. These open spaces are created by different communities, united by common values and knowledge sharing, accompanied by the rapid development of the latest digital manufacturing technologies, which are actively implemented.