PITTSBURGH — General Electric announced at the RAPID 2013 Conference that they are launching two global additive manufacturing quests.

The contests are open to the public, and will invite entrepreneurs, companies and institutions to offer their solutions to both challenges — a “3D Printing Design Quest” for technologies used in healthcare and one for an aircraft engine bracket.

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Mark Little, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, GE Global Research Center said, “GE is committed to leading the next manufacturing revolution through innovative hardware, material and process advancements.

“This revolution depends on collaboration with external innovators and partners. These Quests will help us to convene and engage this community in meaningful ways and ultimately build an additive manufacturing ecosystem that scales the industry to new heights.”

GE has already reduced production times by up to 25 per cent by putting additive technologies to work on an industrial scale.

It is believed that continued collaboration with other fabrication companies will accelerate the application of these technologies and further increase innovation.

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The additive manufacturing quests are launching with partners GrabCAD and NineSigma. The first phase of both quests will be open from June 11, 2013 to July 26, 2013.

“GE is always looking for new ways to bring great ideas to life, and we’re excited to tap the creativity and skills of GrabCAD and NineSigma’s significant membership databases,” said Greg Morris, Strategy and Business Development for Additive Technologies at GE.

“New approaches, including additive manufacturing and crowd-sourcing design concepts, are just a few of the ways we are accelerating our design process.”

GE is the world’s largest user of additive technologies in metals, with a full-scale additive manufacturing facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a global team of 600 engineers, spread across 21 sites.

More information on the quests can be found at: www.ge.com/OpenInnovation

More information on the company’s additive manufacturing exploits can be found here:www.ge.com