The Addimadour innovation platform is opened

Dedicated to metal additive manufacturing technology transfer, the Addimadour platform provides the Technocité Technology Park with innovative and efficient facilities for industrial projects.

Funded by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, the Basque Country Urban Authority, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the ESTIA business foundation and the ESTIA engineering school, the Addimadour innovation platform represents an investment of €2.4 million for the development of projects over three years. This new technology centre, which was opened on 19 May 2017, strengthens the innovation ecosystem of the Technopole Côte Basque.

The Addimadour platform is based in premises of 800 m² made available by the Société d’Economie Mixte Cré@ticité, and is already operational with its large robots. It allows metal printing projects - or additive manufacturing projects - to be undertaken, the principle of which is to manufacture metal parts based on models designed in 3-D, using computer-aided design programs (CADs). This manufacturing process is a real alternative to classic machining methods and in particular offers the advantage of producing parts with a complex shape in a single block and of machining single parts on demand.

Addimadour will be operated by the ESTIA engineering school. In October 2017, a team of ten people will be working at the Addimadour site including three PhD students. Several projects have already been launched via partnerships with groups and businesses in the aeronautics and aerospace sectors. Addimadour will draw on the experience of Compositadour, a neighbouring organisation specialising in robotic processes for the implementation of composite materials and also equipped with innovative machinery.