Sponsors are a huge part of Hackagong. Without the generous contributions from our sponsors, we wouldn’t be running this awesome Hackathon! This is Sponsor Watch, where we take a quick look at one of our sponsors.

Company: Me3D
Company Website: me3d.com.au
Location: Wollongong
Number of Employees: 3

What does your company do?

We build and sell a range of locally designed 3D printers!

How did your company first get started? What’s the origin story?

We are a group of experienced engineers and business professionals. The original concepts for our machines were generated while the founders were involved in Hackerspaces in France and Japan. When we all found ourselves back in Wollongong we funded a campaign to produce V-Slot in Australia and the rest is history.

Our company was started because we wanted to produce excellent value printers in Australia with as much local content as possible. We have a strong drive for sustainable product development and reducing waste through cradle to cradle thinking.

Why did you sponsor Hackagong 2014?

We love this stuff. We just want to see more people making things in Wollongong.

Has your company ever held internal hackathons?

We hold regular “Prototype Tuesdays” where we build something new every week, regardless of what else is going on.

What is the most awesome thing or project your company has done?

We’ve done lots of cool stuff along the way. This year we are using Hackagong 2014 to produce and launch the kickstarter campaign for our newest printer right there in front of everyone. Crowd-sourcing our crowd-funding campaign, we think that’s pretty cool.

What’s an internal/industry problem your company would like to solve?

Waste!
3D printing should not be about printing more crap you don’t need. The real of home 3D printing should be to make the things you have work better for you and extend their lifespan beyond.

What are you most looking forward to at Hackagong 2014?

Collaborating and helping local Wollongong makers to make their ideas real.

What trending technology are you most excited for over the next 5 years?

Novel 3D printing materials. Flexible, Magnetic and Conductive materials will really enable us t change the way we produce things and start to let us produce function products in the home.

Hackagong thanks Me3D and our other sponsors for their generous contribution for this years event.