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Rapid Manufacturing & Mass Customization 2009 Event

Last year Mikrocentrum introduced a new, international event: Rapid Manufacturing & Mass Customization. The event was co-organised by Rein van der Mast and covered both topics as well as how to apply these in an industrial environment. We are proud to announce the 2009 edition tittled: Rapid Manufacturing & Mass Customization. The event will take place November 17, 2009. Its location is still undecided, however we are expecting to find an interesting place in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands. This also means we can better accommodate our international audience, amongst which are Dutch, German and Belgian guests. 

If you have any topics you think would be interesting for the visitors please let us know. This year we will include open innovation because it can be linked to both of our main topics. We will focus primarily on applications instead of research. You can contact Mikrocentrum by e-mail or by phone +31402969934

Source: Mikrocentrum

Utopian Practices: Art, Science and Design REunited

Waag Society, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Virtual Knowledge Studio and The Arts & Genomics Centre of Leiden University have organised the conference Utopian Practices: Science, Art & Design REunited. The Conference takes place in De Balie Amsterdam on March 20th from 09.00-16.30 hrs.

Art, science and design were once closely tied to one another, but in the modern age technological specialisation and other divisions brought about a fragmentation of these fields. Increasingly, however, we have begun noticing a number of cross-pollinations between fine arts, applied arts and the sciences. During the conference Utopian Practices: Science, Art & Design REunited, a number of pioneers in this issue will present some surprising connections between the various disciplines like Susan Kennard, Executive Director of the new media institute BANFF in Canada will talk about the unique way that BANFF brings together researchers, artists and designers. Professor Emeritus Martin Kemp from Oxford University will discuss the similarities between artists and scientists based on what he calls ‘structural intuition’. And artist Beatriz da Costa will tell us how difficult it is to break down the barriers between art and science based on the question ‘when does Art become Science?’

Utopian Practices is the official opening for a programme dealing with the daily practice of art, science and design organised by Waag Society, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Virtual Knowledge Studio and The Arts & Genomics Centre at Leiden University.

Source and Program: De Balie

SIGGRAPH 2009: The Conference

In the span of a little more than 30 years, ACM SIGGRAPH has grown from a handful of computer graphics enthusiasts to a diverse group of researchers, artists, developers, filmmakers, scientists, and other professionals who share an interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Our community values excellence, passion, integrity, volunteerism, and cross-disciplinary interaction. We sponsor not only the annual SIGGRAPH conference, but also focused symposia, chapters in cities throughout the world, awards, grants, educational resources, online resources, a public policy program, traveling art show, and the SIGGRAPH Video Review.

The SIGGRAPH 2009 conference takes place from August 3-7 in New Orleans.

Source: Siggraph

Mass Customization & Personalization

Mass Customization & Personalization (MCP) is the premier event in this field. Bridging academic research and management practice, the conference provides an interactive and interdisciplinary platform to share ideas about mass customization strategies and to discuss the latest technologies and enablers. 

October 4-8 2009, the conference will move to the first time to the Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, home of a very strong and active community of mass customization researchers and practitioners.

3D, Science and Cultural Heritage

The simultaneous progress of computing, also of physics and chemistry have modified since about three decades the study and the restoration or the reconstitution of the artistic heritage. Archeology, applied to objects, to architecture and to the techniques of the past, has particularly benefited from new refinements in the analysis of materials, their use and workmanship since prehistory up to the 20th century (industrial archeology).

The most spectacular aspect of the use of computing for this sort of cultural heritage is, without doubt, the creation of 3D images and animations which open a dynamic window on the past. This is very attractive for the public, but also very useful for the specialist in view of the validation, reconstitution, restoration, replication, etc. In our event, open to everybody, we would like to present the main technologies, at present in use for the analysis, the reconstitution and the archiving of the cultural heritage, especially in the domain of the materials and the 3D.

Concrete examples will be presented in the exhibition: images, videos, computer animations, digital and physical models, stereoscopic displays. And specialists - archaeologists, historians, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, engineers - will present their works through lectures. The exhibition and the conference will be also displayed on the Internet, and a little bilingual (French-English) DVD catalogue will be edited.

• Place: Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers, Metz, Lorraine, France.
• Exhibition: Wednesday 19 to Sunday 23 of October, 2008.
• Conference: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, November, 2008.

Source: Arsmathematica

Nationale ZZP infodagen 2008

Hoewel er zeer veel informatie te vinden is over ondernemen organiseert de eigenwijze vakorganisatie ZZP (Zelfstandigen Zonder Personeel) Nederland zelf een vakbeurs op 15 en 16 november. Volgens ZZP Nederland is de behoefte aan duidelijke informatie zo groot dat men heeft besloten om een ZZP Beurs te organiseren voor ZZP’ers en zij die dat willen worden. Inmiddels is de belangstelling zeer groot en verwacht men 5.000 tot 10.000 bezoekers op de beurs die wordt gehouden in het Schiphol A4 Hotel. 

ZZP Nederland is enkele jaren geleden gestart om de collectieve zorgverzekering voor ZZP’ers te kunnen aanbieden. Inmiddels zit de belangenbehartiger voor ZZP’ers in een zeer opmerkelijke stroomversnelling. 4.000 ZZP’ers hebben zich aangesloten en iedere maand komen daar 450 nieuwe bij. 

Noodzaak voorlichting

Er is kennelijk nog veel onduidelijkheid in de ondernemerswereld. Kan ik een bedrijf starten vanuit een uitkering? Welke rechtsvorm moet ik kiezen? Wat is een VAR en heb ik er een nodig? Arbeidsongeschikt en dan? Hoe zit het met belastingen? Ben ik juridisch aansprakelijk? Waartegen moet ik mij verzekeren en hoe doe ik dat voordelig? Administratie en bankzaken, hoe regel ik dat? Allemaal vragen die spelen bij zelfstandigen zonder personeel (ZZP’ers) en startende ondernemers. Tijdens de Nationale ZZP Infodagen wordt dit uitgelegd. Deze beurs, bestaande uit ca 25 stands en veel workshops wordt georganiseerd door ZZP Nederland met medewerking van de overheid en ondersteund door onder meer Menzis, Nationale Nederlanden en ABN AMRO.

Locatie, route en tijden

Hotel Schiphol A4 is gelegen aan de oostzijde van de snelweg A4 op 5 minuten rijden van de luchthaven Schiphol, op 10 minuten van Amsterdam en op 20 minuten van Den Haag. Er is voldoende parkeerruimte. Het exacte adres is Rijksweg A4 Nr.3, 2132 MA Hoofddorp. Openingstijden: Zaterdag 15 november 2008 van 10 tot 18 uur, op zondag van 10 tot 17 uur.

Kortingkaart downloaden

Voor leden van ZZP Nederland is de beurs gratis te bezoeken. Voor niet-leden wordt middels een kortingkaart een kleine entree gevraagd die direct wordt terugbetaald indien men besluit om lid te worden.

Bron: ZZP Nederland

Smart Customization Seminar 2008

The MIT Smart Customization Seminar 2008 (10-11 nov) is an in-depth coverage of one of today’s most important business trends. It is open to a distinguished group of professionals from diverse industries working on, implementing, or considering mass customization and personalization strategies and technologies. In addition, a small group of pre-eminent scholars will share leading-edge research on issues of importance and practicality to mass customization professionals.

Mass customization today is emerging from a pilot stage into a scalable and sustainable business strategy. We recently have seen a strong increase in investments and success stories of companies doing mass customization on a larger scale. The objective of the 2008 seminar is to take an intensive look at the success factors and how to do it aspects of mass customization and personalization.

Location: The MIT Faculty Club Cambridge, MA

Source: MIT

Design meets Industry #4

Designbusiness Network (DEB) stelt op 19 nov in de Caballerofabriek Den Haag productontwikkelaars en ontwerpers in de gelegenheid om hun product te presenteren aan industriëlen, investeerders en adviseurs op het gebied van industrieel eigendom, techniek, financiering en marketing. Op deze gebieden zitten ontwerpers vaak vast, zodat de ontwikkeling van hun product stagneert.

DEB vindt het belangrijk dat ontwerpers meer marktkansen krijgen en organiseert daarom 2 keer per jaar Design meets Industry, een uniek moment waarop ontwikkelaars aan een select maar deskundig gezelschap hun ideeën kunnen presenteren. Er is ruimte voor maximaal 10 ontwikkelaars, die ieder 15 minuten tijd krijgen. Na 2,5 uur is er onder het borrelen gelegenheid tot verder overleg en het maken van concrete afspraken.

Verzeker je van een unieke mogelijkheid om je productideeën verder te brengen door per omgaande je belangstelling te mailen onder vermelding van naam, productidee, marktsector en concrete vragen.

Bron: Designbusiness Network