INKplant has achieved exceptional results by printing customizable implants and demonstrators tailored to individual defect sizes, anatomical features, and material composition. With a world's first 3D-printed ceramic subperiosteal implant in a clinical use case, award-winning CWA standards including a scaffold library that has already gained global popularity, improved solutions for surgical handling and implant fixation, and a flagship AM certification project for medical devices, INKplant's results were exceeding expectations. The INKplant approach provides biomechanical properties suitable for Meniscus, Osteochondral defects, Palatal clefts, Bone augmentation, and Subperiosteal implants.
User acceptance studies, including feedback from patients and clinicians, underscored the high demand for innovative solutions in customized implants. Moreover, the interactive art project “Intimate Implant” aimed to reflect on the impact of regenerative implants and their relationship with our bodies, and to engage a broader public in this reflection.
Advanced simulation and modeling methods enabled a novel design workflow that integrates pre-operative patient imaging, clinicians' experience, biomechanical characterization of multi-materials, and an optimization process for patient-specific implants.
We contributed significantly to standards for “Implants for Surgery,” published three CEN Workshop Agreements (CWAs) that may become new EN standards including design workflow for patient-specific implants, establishing a systematic procedure for personalized tissue engineering and minimizing errors throughout the design and manufacturing process. Further INKplant has developed and made publicly available the most comprehensive open-source library of tissue engineering scaffold designs, through e.g. Zenodo, Ubora, and Thingiverse, promoting collaborative innovation in research.
Commercialization of solutions for bone augmentation, subperiosteal implants, palatal cleft, and osteochondral defect implants will be managed by partners and have started their journey to registered medical products in a new spin-off company. Some materials will be further optimized in follow-up projects. Printer sales for lithographic ceramic manufacturing bi-material and GMP-compliant 5-axis multi-material printers are prepared, alongside with support for ink development, quality management consulting, and additive manufacturing services in dental medicine. Spin-off and start-up companies, such as Agensmed GmbH for subperiosteal and other implants, 3Dtive S.L. for dental AM solutions, and Resorbink for biodegradable polymers, will commercialize INKplant results.
