Contour Crafting (CC) An additive fabrication technology developed at the University of Southern California. It has potential for automating the construction of whole structures as well as architectural sub-systems, such as electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning conduits.

The Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) Tech Group of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Working in conjunction with other SME groups to establish standards and disseminate information about rapid manufacturing and related areas.

Direct Write Association (DWA) (UK) A UK umbrella organization hosted by Ceram, with members from both academia and industry, to facilitate communication in developing additive technology to fabricate a wide range of electronic, biomedical and other devices. Similar in scope to the MICE initiative in the US described below.

Ecomarble Process Fraunhofer Institutes (Germany) and several museums have collaborated to develop a process to reproduce statuary artifacts from otherwise-wasted marble dust. The method uses reverse engineering scanning and ProMetal RP technologies. In addition to reproducing and protecting fine art objects, the process has potential in decoration and architecture.

The Fab Lab Program of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) doesn't utilize much additive fabrication, but does bring together an interesting group of technologies for personal manufacturing.

Open Manufacturing A discussion group dedicated to bringing open source software development methodology and philosophy to the design and construction of the physical world. In many cases this involves additive fabrication, especially as it relates to RepRap and the like, but be prepared for a heavy emphasis on philosophy.

Frank Piller's Web Site on Mass Customization, Customer Co-Creation & Open Innovation Prof. Piller of Aachen University, Germany, offers a central clearing house for this field.

monolite This Italian effort involves a robotic approach to freeform construction, which is essentially three dimensional printing on a large scale. Powder material is bonded by a free-roving robotic "print-head" within a huge box-like frame. Modest-sized items such as kiosks, bus-stops and the like are the first targets of opportunity. The composition of the resultant structure is said to be similar to marble.

Freeform Construction UK A project at Loughboro University which is investigating the construction of buildings by additive fabrication. Emphasis is being placed on incorporating complex, organic structures into the buildings to improve energy use and comfort. Dr. Rupert Soar has studied termite mounds as one exemplary model of such structures. Also see Archiform, a related research project of the Dept. of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughboro.

MadeForOne.com This is a wide-ranging web-site for all things having to do with mass customisation. Article and news feature subjects range from customer-specified personal computers to rapid prototyping, architecture and construction, and wearable fashions.

Math-Morph This web-site describes the research of Ming Tang Director of Electronic Design Program (digital computation) at the Savannah College of Art and Design. The combined influences of biology and mathematics serve as a basis for the design of unconventional forms for architectural and other design disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on construction using additive technologies.

Mesoscopic Integrated Conformal Electronics (MICE) This DARPA program was aimed at simplifying manufacture and providing greater flexibility than is possible using existing technologies. In size, mesoscale devices fall between integrated circuits and surface-mount components, and have important applications in military, RF communications and medical areas. Direct fabrication methods would make it possible to use almost any material as a substrate while eliminating conventional PCB's, high-temperature processing and chemicals. In addition, it would be possible to generate a new circuit in a matter of hours, eliminate tooling, and greatly reduce the need to inventory components. A number of commercial companies and university and government labs participated in the program, including Optomec, Sciperio and SRI International which have resulted in several ongoing commercialization efforts.

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