Professor Olaf Diegal

Olaf Diegal is an educator and practitioner in additive manufacturing (AM) and product development, with an excellent track record of developing innovative solutions to engineering problems. As the professor of additive manufacturing at the University of Auckland, he is involved in all aspects of AM.

3D printing is coming of age. It is a rapid “manufacturing” technology that will significantly influence how we live in the future and almost all manufactured products. In the not-too-distant future, you will select a pair of shoes from an online catalogue, customise it to your exact style preferences and size. A 3D printer will manufacture it for you at a store in your town, instead of having to ship the shoes around the world.

In this talk, he reviews the state of the art of 3D printing technologies and some of their current and future applications in art, engineering, business, and health. He will also discuss the social implications these technologies will have on design and on how we live, and examine some of the issues around how we need to start adapting today to be ready for the technology tomorrow.