President Barack Obama announced a new initiative to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. in a recent State of the Union address, stating "3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. We must ensure that the Next Industrial Revolution in manufacturing will happen in America. We can get that done."
MakerBot is working in collaboration with DonorsChoose.org, America Makes and Autodesk to fulfill a mission to put a MakerBot Desktop 3D Printer in every school in America. MakerBot has made it a top priority of the company to do its part in educating today's student for the "Next Industrial Revolution."
"We are thrilled that MakerBot and America Makes are joining a growing coalition of citizens working to give American students the ability to design and make almost anything," said Tom Kalil, deputy director for Technology and Innovation, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "As the President has said, we all need to think creatively about giving our young people the tools to be 'the makers of things, and not just the consumers of things.'"
DonorsChoose.org encourages donations from teachers who want to pledge to financially support the program. Key market players such as, Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot, and Ralph Crump, original inventor of FDM 3D printing technology and founder of Stratasys, are also pledging their support through additional initiatives.
"To get this done, we are going to have to do it together," said Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot.
MakerBot is supplying MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer, three spools of MakerBot PLA Filament, and a full year of the MakerBot MakerCare Service and Protection Plan to every participating school. It is also making additional efforts support teachers who develop ongoing 3D printing curriculum in the classroom. MakerBot will leverage Autodesk's software and educator curriculum as well.
"Autodesk signed on as a key partner in the MakerBot Academy initiative because helping students unlock their creativity and prepare for future careers is a core part of our mission," said Samir Hanna, Autodesk vice president, consumer products. "Bringing together accessible applications like Autodesk TinkerCAD project-based curriculum from our instructables.com community and the MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer will inspire and engage the next generation of design-minded students."
