Texas Emerging Technology Fund, Lockheed Martin and UT System combine for $9 million in support of SPEC Center’s Advanced Fabrication Technologies
Story content courtesy of The University of Texas at El Paso, US
The Governor of Texas Rick Perry has announced the state will invest $3 million through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to help create new integrated 3-D systems technologies through the Structural and Printed Emerging Technologies (SPEC) Center in the UTEP College of Engineering.
The SPEC Center will take advantage of and build upon the existing world-class rapid-prototyping or additive manufacturing equipment and research available now in the college’s W.M. Keck Center for 3-D Innovation. The SPEC Center will initially focus on printed electronics, but will have the capability to produce devices of nearly all types, sizes and materials.
Industry partner Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will contribute $3 million toward five-year operating costs of the new center, and The University of Texas System has pledged $3 million in construction and equipment funds — for a total of $9 million — to launch the state-of-the-art advanced printed electronics research facility.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will tap the expertise of engineering faculty for a number of projects based on 3-D layered fabrication, printed electronics and other advanced technologies. The research could lead to discoveries useful for the company’s lineup of aviation, space and homeland security products and services.
