This year, 10 teams will participate in the 3D Modeling and Printing Contest organized by the Măgurele Science Park Association, each representing a school from the Bucharest-Ilfov region.
The online sessions phase has ended and we are in the middle of the physical sessions in which children have access, with the support of our colleague, Laurențiu, to 3D equipment and can thus test the feasibility of their ideas.
What projects they have prepared and what ideas will come to life, we will see at the end of the competition, when the presentation, judging and awarding of the 3 most innovative projects of this year will take place.
This year, the judging panel will include members of the MSP educational community, members who have also supported us in other projects and whom we thank for their involvement and support.
On behalf of our sponsor, Formwerk, which will provide the 3 3D printers for the 3 winning teams, as well as the related filaments, we will have Ioana Manea, Marketing Director, invited to the judging panel.
Since the first editions of the competition, Formwerk has joined the 3D Modeling and Printing Competition, as the main sponsor of the 3D equipment offered to the winners, and this year’s edition is no exception. We are glad to have new partners who support us in offering participants an experience at the highest standards and we hope for a long-lasting collaboration.
In Romania, FormWerk is the leading destination for customized 3D printing solutions, covering the widest range of technologies. FormWerk is a distributor and seller of 3D printers, materials, accessories and technology, a service provider with an international team versed in technology, an accessible online store and a constantly expanding network of partners.
After a long career in marketing, advertising, branding and twelve years of teaching an original creativity course at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the University of Bucharest, Ioana became passionate about 3D printing ten years ago, having been part of the FormWerk team for four years.
The Ilfov County School Inspectorate is also involved in the story of this year’s 3D Modeling and Printing Contest. We will have Gabriela Lupu, school inspector, as a guest on the jury, to whom we thank for her presence and involvement. Throughout our activity in the educational pillar, we have had numerous collaborations with the School Inspectorate of Ilfov County, one of the most extensive projects being the piloting of the optional “Knowledge Hour”, through which, thanks to the involvement of the Inspectorate, it reached over 3,600 students in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, and in the spring of this year, the optional “Knowledge Hour” was approved by the Ministry of Education at the national level.
ECDL, a constant support in our educational activities will be present this year in the jury and we will have Mihai Peca invited on their behalf.
Mihai has been a trainer for over 10 years, and in recent years he has turned his attention to the fascinating field of 3D modeling and printing.
Mihai has been with the Magurele Science Park team in many educational activities, both as a judge (at the 3D Modeling and Printing Contest and at the Robotics Contest – Make your city Smart), and as a guest at a presentation on digitalization and technology, which he held this year to the eleventh-grade students at the “Hora Hulubei” High School in Magurele.
Currently, he works at ECDL Romania – ICDL Certification and deals with the development and delivery of modules such as: 3D Printing, digital pedagogy, but also other IT training programs dedicated to students.
Code School Clubs will also be part of the judging panel and we will have invited Iulia Șerban, Club Coordinator & Code Trainer. Throughout our educational activity, Code School Clubs have supported us and we are glad that they will be with us during this event as well.
With experience in cybernetics, human resources, and a passion for working with children, Iulia coordinates projects that aim to enrich the young minds of tomorrow.
Because we want to expand the MSP educational community, this year Imprim Center Total joined it.
This year, the students from the 3 winning teams of the 3D Modeling and Printing Contest will receive from Code School Clubs a voucher for a Virtual and Augmented Reality course, a course that will harmoniously complement the students’ knowledge acquired during the 3D modeling and printing competition.
Emanuela Alexandru is the founder of Imprim Center Total SRL, a Romanian company, founded in 2019, whose main object of activity is the printing of 3D products from biodegradable materials, but also the scanning of various objects.
Involved in activities with the little ones, in projects such as the “Roaba de cultură”, “Opera comică” for children about 2 years old and participant in the 2024 edition of the Laser Valley Innovation Bootcamp event in the ColabMe team, Emanuela came with fresh forces to the judging panel at the 3D modeling and printing contest organized by Magurele Science Park and we can’t wait for our future collaborations in the educational sphere.
So, we are waiting for participants to upload their projects by November 22nd, but until then we will be with them for any questions to the curious, on the Discord platform, where the online sessions were also took place.
Above, you can find some moments captured from the training sessions at the headquarters, sessions in which we had the opportunity to get to know the teams, their ideas and their members better.
We discovered some innovative little minds eager to change the environment for the better and bring added value through their project.
We admit that every year we are surprised by the ideas and the ability of the little ones not only to store information, but to implement them and create from 0 projects that surprise us.
Maybe among them are the inventors of tomorrow, maybe why not, they are the next researchers who will come in front of the children to help them develop their skills and discover new horizons, maybe these are our future business partners.
We admire their determination and desire to persevere, which is why we organize these competitions to help them discover not only new passions in STEM fields, but also to perfect their current skills.
Below are some thoughts about his experience, from a participant in our training sessions during the competition:
“Yesterday was a super cool day. My team and I were spoiled by designing and printing our first keychains with our names. But the coolest thing was when Laurențiu showed us how to print the first parts of our project. We were excited about how it would look and if the parts would fit together. We kept watching the printers and we didn’t miss taking all kinds of leftovers with us as a souvenir. The wait wasn’t that long, because we sat down to model all kinds of objects again in the Tinkercad program.
The result of the project was very good, we still have work to do, but we are on the right track.
Thank you very much Laurențiu for your guidance and patience. We know we were noisy and energetic.
And we thank the entire team at MSP for their hospitality and for making us feel like home.”
A. D. – student at Ioan Bădescu Middle School
Good luck to all the teams and we can’t wait to see you again in the final stage! 🍀
