Professor Véronique Michaud (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL, Switzerland) visited the Universidad de los Andes to participate in the Workshop on Sustainable 3D Printing to Tackle Disability Access, where she presented the progress achieved in the framework of the project 'TECH4IMPACT - Sustainable 3D Printing for Peace in Colombia', which was carried out in conjunction with EPFL, the OMNIS Institute, the Todos Podemos Ayudar Foundation and Uniandes.
The idea of the project was born in 2018 with Professor Alicia Porras from the Department of Chemical and Food Engineering; and seeks to encourage social, technical and scientific solutions to develop sustainable materials using agro-industrial waste and recycled polymers, which can be used in the 3D printing of assistive devices for people with disabilities. Thanks to this, waste from industries such as rice or cocoa has been used, coupled with recycled plastics from bottles.
"In Colombia there is a great opportunity to transform agricultural waste into devices that help society and reduce the pollution they can generate. However, this waste is all over the world and we must learn to use what we have in our environment to have an increasingly circular economy," said Professor Véronique.
Professors Alicia and Véronique continue with a firm commitment to the environment to promote economic development and long-term sustainability.
Relive the best moments of the event in the following video:
