3D printing helps Italian doctors fix faulty respirators to help Covid-19 patients

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By Matthew Griffin Industrial Revolution 23rd March 2020

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

3D printing is an on demand manufacturing technology, and in a crisis where there’s a shortage of parts and people can’t move around freely it’s come to the rescue.

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Technology is arguably playing a greater role in the COVID-19 pandemic we’re all suffering from today than it ever has, whether it’s autonomous vehicles being used to disinfect the streets in China, autonomous robots disinfecting the subways in Hong Kong, drones being used to keep people indoors in Spain, robots serving patients in the US, or supercomputers crunching compounds to find vaccines. And a few days ago another technology, 3D printing came to the rescue after, staff at a hospital in Italy realised they were running out of valves for patients’ respirators, which are essential for the most serious cases of COVID-19, when patients are admitted to the ICU.

Italy’s Minister of Technological Innovation Paola Pisano acknowledged the achievement and congratulated those involved.

Once the valves are determined to have met all the necessary standards for approval, the team hopes to produce them for all hospitals that need them.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as a "Walking encyclopaedia of the future" by NASA and a futurist polymath, is one of the world's most renowned futurists and strategic foresight experts. A serial entrepreneur Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years, XPotential University, the world's first free futures and foresight university, and the World Futures Forum which works with the United Nations to solve the worlds greatest challenges. 13 times author of the Codex of the Future series, Matthew is an in demand international keynote, acclaimed university lecturer, and host of the hit Fanatical Futurist podcast.

A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and run several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world's most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pepsi Co, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others. He was also the only futurist invited to talk at the UN COP28 held in Dubai alongside world leaders.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.