$80m health and knowledge hub with 3D printer at Gold Coast Griffith University in Athletes Village
THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES Athletes Village will soon become home to an $80m bone manufacturing plant. Here’s why.
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ARTIFICIAL bones are to be the skeleton of new life for part of the Athletes Village once the Commonwealth Games show rolls out of town.
The village will soon become home to an $80 million bone manufacturing plant that will promise a better life for patients.
Griffith University has invested in a large 3D printer capable of designing and printing out replica bones to be used as human replacements in surgery.
The state-of-the-art technology could custom-design bones and create prototypes at a much faster pace than what is currently available.
The 3D printing technology could also be used for other areas such as aerospace, defence or dentistry.
Senior deputy vice-chancellor Ned Pankhurst said the university already had a 3D printer on the campus, but a larger machine would be housed in a dedicated 9000sq/m area near the front of the athletes village.
“There are all sorts of industries (that would use it because they have problems) they can’t solve with commercial manufacturing,” Professor Pankhurst said.
“We already have aerospace interest.”
For smaller pieces, it would just take a matter of hours to print out a prototype.
Prof Pankhurst said the hi-tech printer would be best suited to creating items that could not be easily replicated.
Potential surgery patients could be scanned and a model of the area a doctor needed to operate on could be created. Surgeons could then plan and practise on the printed piece before going into theatre.
State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning Minister Cameron Dick said the health and knowledge precinct covering Griffith University, the hospital and now the athletes village with the 3D printer, would eventually generate 26,000 jobs.
He said 3D printing could revolutionise the economy.
“Everything from 3D printed dresses all the way through to groundbreaking 3D printing for medical purposes – the Gold Coast will keep winning with the knowledge-based jobs of the future,’’ Mr Dick said.
“The Gold Coast will be healthy, wealthy and wise.”
Meanwhile village units now being used by athletes and owned by Abu Dhabi interests would be rented out to punters over the coming months.
Some units would be slightly modified internally, while others would remain the same.
It is understood health professionals including doctors, nurses and students would be the target market.
A small amount of space would be dedicated to retail.
Four other sites were earmarked for commercial development, worth $200m.
Seven hectares would be handed over to the Gold Coast City Council for public use.
Commonwealth Games and Innovation Minister Kate Jones said one of the greatest legacies of the Games would be the health and knowledge precinct.
“We know that the innovation, technology and health sectors are where the jobs will be in the next 10 to 20 years,” she said.
“That’s why we’ve used billions of dollars in Commonwealth Games legacy funding to create the jobs of the future right here on the Gold Coast.”
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