Our Partners

The Uppsala region is very strong in research and innovation within both life- and materials science. Additive Manufacturing progress is closely related to R&D in materials science, and the combination of life- and materials science has enormous potential to result in a number of fruitful synergies. However, we see a great need for increased cooperation and knowledge sharing between fields and stakeholders in order to advance at a satisfactory pace, and this is the reason for the creation of this centre.

Currently, the AM4Life Competence Centre has 26 partners, which can be divided into three categories:

  • 16 industrial partners (including 14 Swedish SMEs and larger companies as well as 2 companies located outside Sweden).
  • 7 Academic partners (3 Swedish and 2 international universities, 2 Swedish research institutes)
  • 3 public organizations (including Uppsala University Hospital and the Swedish Medical Products Agency)

FULL LIST OF PARTNERS (updated in September 2023)

Association for the Advancement of Tissue Engineering and Cell-Based Technologies & Therapies (A4Tec), created in 2007, is a non-profit scientific association whose mission is to promote the scientific and technological advancement of Human Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, the education of technical and scientific staff in the fields of Biomedicine and the dissemination of scientific research to the scientific community and civil society. A4TEC was created and is constituted by researchers and graduated students who develop scientific, clinical, or technical activities in the area of ​​Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, mainly at 3B’s Research Group (University of Minho).

Erasteel Kloster is a leading supplier of gas atomized metal powder and products based on metal powder. Our main products are bars in powder metal high speed steels for tools and components. Our activities in the center has been mainly focused on the use of our metal powder in AM printing. Erasteel has also been active in sharing knowledge of gas atomized metal powder among students and researchers in the center.

Hydrumedical was born in 2016 out of our CEO’s (Alexandre Barros) Ph.D. research project, where a clear need was identified by the medical community to reduce kidney stone post-surgery complications. Knowing how our Hydrustent product, a biodegradable ureteral stent, could impact the lives of so many patients as well as reduce treatment costs by approximately 60%, challenged us to continue the research in this field and that was the foundation on which the company was built. Based in Portugal, we started with a small team, and we have been growing since then. Soon we became a multi-award-winning company and along with the specialized team we were gathering, that gave us the lead to develop innovative medical devices in urology but also in stoma care, infection control, and Sports Medicine. In AM4Life center we leverage our competences in developing biodegradable medical devices and learning new competences around the bioprinting of metal-based biodegradable devices.

The department of Fibre and Polymer Technology is the largest academic institution on native and synthetic polymers in Sweden. The combination of the traditionally separate fields of natural and synthetic polymers is unique and the broad knowledge makes it possible to address several important issues such as future demands on a sustainable material use in society. Anna Finne Wistrands research, including many collaborations, have during the last years been devoted to understand how the polymer behaves in AM and how the process influences the polymer, define the surface characteristics of the printed samples and, for example, correlate that with biofilm formation and cell-material interaction. The motivation is to improve the overall usability of AM so that it becomes the first manufacturing choice in the future and also to transform polymer-based AM from a comparatively green fabrication process to a truly green technology.

The vision and mission for the Swedish Medical Products Agency  is to spread awareness  on regulatory science  to the members of the AM4Life Competence center and to gain authority prepardness  by following the scientific progress in the  field of additive manufacturing.

Medviso is a Swedish medical technology company with a mission to empower healthcare and researchers to make a difference. We design, develop, and manufacture post-processing software for medical image analysis in the space of additive manufacturing. We consistently develop with innovation in mind to bring the latest research to clinical practice. Within the center we bring knowledge in medical image analysis, regulatory expertise and experience in clinical practice around additive manufacturing.

OssDsign's vision is to provide regenerative solutions to all patients with cranial or spinal bone defects, so they can be restored and healed as naturally as possible. Driven by a commitment to give patients back the lives they deserve, OssDsign collaborates with surgeons to engineer better healing by integrating biomaterials with clinical design.  

Our mission is to strive for sustainable growth in Sweden by strengthening the competitiveness and capacity for renewal of Swedish industry, as well as promoting the innovative development of society as a whole.

The metals research institute Swerim conducts needs-based industrial research and development concerning metals and their route from raw material to finished product. Our vision is a fossil-free and circular industry. Within AM4Life Swerim is active within additive manufacturing of materials for bioprocessing and implants. Swerim contributes with competence and equipment within material and process development of metals and powder. One PhD-student (Hanna Nilsson Åhman), employed at Swerim, is doing research about additive manufacturing of magnesium alloys for implants.

VBN Components are a material developing company providing customers with hard and wear resistant alloys for additive manufacturing. Vision: Renew the materials industry in the world.

The main scientific goal is the development of biomaterials for tissue and organs regeneration/functional repair. To address this objective, we work on design of materials which can modulate the response of the receiving tissue, leading in some cases to the regeneration and neoformation of the degraded tissues and, in others, to a perfect integration of the biomaterial and to the recovery of the lost functionality. In this multidisciplinary domain it essential to create a bridge between two differenciated fields of knowledge, such as materials science and biomedicine, with a continuous and stable interaction, based on the interdisciplinary of the members of group.

Last modified: 2023-08-25
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