Joint Initiative Aims to Improve Surgical Precision

Hospital del Mar and Hospital Clínic Barcelona have signed a collaboration agreement with the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) to establish a healthcare-focused 3D printing centre. The partnership, confirmed on Friday 18 September 2026, will utilise the CZFB’s 3D Incubator facilities to produce anatomical models, custom rehabilitation aids, and hospital equipment components. Under the agreement, the two public hospitals will contribute clinical expertise, innovation teams, and funding for materials and specific part production. The CZFB will provide space, machinery, and specialist manufacturing engineers. Eleven 3D printers will be allocated by the consortium specifically for this initiative.

Custom Solutions for Complex Cases

The technology allows surgical teams to replicate patient-specific anatomy for preoperative planning, particularly in complex maxillofacial procedures. Jaume Raventós, managing director of Hospital del Mar, explained:

When the maxillofacial surgery team operates on complex cases, they may need to test or study the intervention before entering the operating room. Obviously, the patient's anatomical structure cannot be extracted for laboratory analysis. That's why it's very useful to be able to artificially reproduce that model with 3D printing.

Personalised medical parts are already used in clinical practice at both hospitals, but previously were either made in-house or outsourced. This new collaboration creates a shared innovation ecosystem to accelerate development and knowledge exchange. Josep Maria Campistol, general director of Hospital Clínic, stressed the project is not primarily about cost reduction, but about enhancing autonomy, safety, and response times through collaborative innovation. Pere Navarro, executive president of the CZFB, stated the goal is to manufacture viable medical solutions locally, reducing external dependencies while building proprietary expertise. He added that the model could expand across Catalonia’s wider public health system. More details on the CZFB’s DFactory programme are available via the DFactory Barcelona | Industry 4.0 Center Zona Franca official page.

Primary sources: boe.es. Reported by elpais.com, 20 Minutos Barcelona, La Vanguardia, La Vanguardia Barcelona, Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, El País Barcelona.

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