3D printing technology is slowly grasping the hold tighter on many sectors people were initially afraid to venture into. Though this technology has already strengthened its hold in fields like aerospace, automation, medical, and fine arts there still remain innumerable sectors where 3D printing can be applied and successfully executed. Even in the existing fields, there is a scope of new innovation and application with the growing streams and technologies to supplement them.
The MakerBot Innovation Center was launched as a boon to educational institutions and business institutions to learn and incorporate this technology, to reach an exceptional level of knowledge and success.
Initially, the SUNY New Paltz was the single university to have such a centre. Students, educators all availed this facility and even the business enterprises in the vicinity availed their facilities for their experiments. The Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center (HVMC) immensely benefitted from this lab and functions as a base for innovations in the manufacturing technology in the Hudson Bay area and has experienced tremendous growth in this field.
The HVMC further plans to open a super lab known as the SMART ( Stratasys MakerBot Additive Research and Teaching) that will specialize in 3D printing technology and its various aspects.
SMART, which opened on 22 June, boasts of 40 MakerBot printers, 1 industrial-grade Objet260 Connex multi-material 3D printer, 2 Stratasys Dimension 3D printers, 1 Fortus 400mc Production 3D printer and was supported by the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, which aided the SUNY New Paltz to utilize the 3D printing technology for the mechanical engineering programs that are currently being run in the university.
The lab welcomes students who are interested in 3Dprinting and want to experiment and witness the innovations that take place in this 3D printing hub. The lab could bring about a huge leap in the economic development in the Hudson Bay Area.

Source: 3dprint.com