Aalborg – April 7, 2020

Coronavirus (covid-19) has already infected over a million people around the world, and in most countries, it does not show any signs of slowing down. Due to the increasing number of cases, most hospitals are in need of medical supplies and other spare parts that can help save lives and reduce the spread of the virus, and that’s where the 3D printing community is giving a helping hand.

Many 3D printer enthusiasts, also known as “makers”, are helping their local hospital by 3D printing masks or shields to protect faces. For example, “makers mod corona” in Denmark or 3DCrowd in the UK are invoking everyone that owns a 3D printer to print protective face shields to be donated to health-related industries such as hospitals and pharmacies.

How are they helping?

Create it REAL has decided to support enthusiasts/makers around the world in their initiative; by freely providing Create it REAL high-speed printing technology to anyone 3D printing to fight covid-19. “We have the technology to speed up the print time, this means higher production output for hundreds of thousands of makers all around the world, and an impact on millions of people. It is a question of life or death, so it was a no brainer for our team to make the technology freely available to maximize impact against covid-19.” says Jeremie Pierre Gay, Create it REAL CEO.

To achieve this, Create it REAL has received extra funding from the Innovation Fund Denmark. They also received backing from their existing investors Vækstfonden Venture (Danish Growth Fund) and 2 private investors. “As professional investors we are focused on growing the company, but we understand that impact investment can create growth. We have trust into Create it REAL ability to support this health crisis short term while creating a return on growth long term” says Ole Kring Investment Director, Vækstfonden Venture.

The first step to help enthusiasts is for Create it REAL to offer free access to its technology through its online slicer “REALvision online” for an easy access and boost of print time (depending on the 3D printer it is up to 2-3 times faster without quality loss).

Second step for Create it REAL is to optimize a list of pre-loaded 3D printable objects (STL-files) that can help in the fight against the Coronavirus. Makers that organize in geographical groups can end up with very different results when 3D printing and the one ensuring the quality control can end up discarding a lot of prints because the quality varies too much.

Using validated and optimized objects can help harmonizing production while providing very good performance, improving the overall productivity and simplifying the local hospital approval for use. Those printable designs can be as simple as a door opener like the one from Spentys, a face protection shield or it can be as complex as a respirator spare part.

Charlotte Valve for adapting decathlon diving mask into a respirator mask.

Designed by Spentys.

Create it REAL is inviting the makers community  to share their designs so they can be optimized for high speed printing and made available via their online slicer REALvision Online for different printer models. Last step is to grow the number of printer models supported for high speed printing with optimized settings to make it easy for any owner of a 3D printer to support the initiative locally, wherever they are in the world.

In Denmark, the 3D printing community got organized within a few days to provide equipment to local hospitals with initiatives like “Makers mod corona” – who can now freely use the REALvision Online slicer.

“It is great to see the maker community come together and show to the world how 3D printing can go from printing “dust collector” to lifesaving parts” says Christoffer Benedikt Mørch member of makers mod corona.

Notice:

Each country, each region might have very different needs, it is therefore important to check with the local hospitals and physicians what are the objects and supplies they actually need right now before starting to 3D printing them.

Access of Create it REAL online slicer to print one of the COVID-19 fighting STL files available or to print your own files.

What is the Innovation Fund Denmark?

The Innovation Fund Denmark invests in companies, researches, and entrepreneurs that come up with new ideas that provide value with scalable and international impact to important society. Currently, a major issue is the COVID-19 rapid spread and how hospitals are running low in supplies during this crisis period.

Make sure to reach out to us if you have any questions, suggestions or need help with a new project.

About Create it REAL

Create it REAL, based in Aalborg, the old Danish “Silicon Valley”, is made up of experts in 3D printing technologies, electronics, software and mechanics. Thanks to our unique development platform, we create premium 3D printers on-demand for companies who want to disrupt, lead and drive their own industry with 3D printing.

For more information, visit www.createitreal.com or follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube , Facebook , Instagram or Twitter.

Create it REAL Contact

*Cover Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels