The Department of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation officially launched the Medical Device Additive Manufacturing Technology Demonstrator Project (MedAdd) on 8 April 2022 at the Central University of Technology, Free State.  

The project that the department funds, has brought small businesses and the university’s Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing together to manufacture medical devices with the aim of reducing South Africa's reliance on costly imported medical devices that many hospitals cannot afford.

“What I have witnessed today shows how this project is changing lives of ordinary people and creating African solutions for African problems, as well as opportunities that will stimulate economic growth and manufacturing in the province”, said MEC for Education, Dr Tate Makgoe.  

DSI provided the financial support of R 97 million through Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) to the university, which houses the Product Development Technology Station (PDTS), to provide technical support to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in terms of solutions for services and training.

“The benefits of this partnership are improving the costs and accessibility of medical devices we are producing.  We are seeing how this project is also creating opportunities that will stimulate economic growth manufacturing in the region, said Cllr. Matthew Rantso, Chairperson of Council. 

CUT is the leading South African university in the application of additive manufacturing to produce customised medical implants. However, the impact of this expertise and resources on the development of a medical device manufacturing industry has been limited, mainly due to a lack of equipment specifically for medical device manufacturing.

MedAdd is available for small companies to industrialise new products, de-risking their innovative development before fully-fledged commercialisation. In addition, through MedAdd students, researchers and industry personnel will be able to develop the required skills to develop this new technology and new industry.

“We anticipate many more fruitful years of collaboration that will help us to maximise stronger partnerships with the department and TIA, as the investment to the university was well spent on projects that have brought about innovative solutions to the region and made an impact on communities”, said Prof Alfred Ngowi, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal.

The MedAdd project has been truly successful in bridging the innovation gap for medical device companies by leveraging the advantages that Additive Manufacturing brings to the manufacturing industry.

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1: Attendees tour the CUT’s world-class additive manufacturing facilities.