At Maker Faire Rome, 3D printing is now a routine tool for students

Maker Faire Rome ran from 23 to 25 October 2026 at the Gazometro Ostiense, organised by the Rome Chamber of Commerce. VoxelMatters reports that 3D printing appeared in almost every hall, usually as an everyday way of building things rather than as the main exhibit. Students interviewed described it as a normal lab tool and raised waste from failed prints as the next concern.

Where was 3D printing at the fair?

According to VoxelMatters, 3D printing was present in almost every hall but rarely as the headline attraction. It was simply how enclosures, brackets, prototypes, models and toys had been made. Examples included the P3dalò v2.0 from Andrea Cincotti's company, a three-meter minotaur from Studio38D, and the CREA food printing project by Grain Lab, which uses a WASP printer. Fablab Imperia showed MeshBee, an open-source hive monitor with solar-powered nodes in printed enclosures that send temperature, humidity and weight data over a LoRa mesh network.

Which brands exhibited?

Nital S.p.A. brought Creality, Anycubic and xTool. Anycubic showed enclosed FDM printers and multicolor prints, while Creality drew groups of teenagers to its FDM and resin machines. Elegoo promoted a Campus Ambassador program for student workshops, and Prusa ran a printer live on its stand. xTool showed laser and textile printing equipment alongside. Make a Shape, founded by Elena Pierri of FabLab Frosinone, presented filaments including BioMAKE, based on Novamont's Mater-Bi, and the antimicrobial CuMake.

What did students say?

A student from a technical high school in Lazio said the printer in their lab is always running, so a broken piece is redrawn in the morning and ready by afternoon. A university student on an aerospace team said printing has become easy and that waste, such as failed prints, supports and empty spools, is now the question to solve.

What it means

For industrial adopters in the EU, the signal is about skills rather than machines. Graduates arriving from schools and universities already treat printing and basic design as routine, which lowers the training barrier for FDM and resin work. Industrial topics such as qualification and cost per part are rarely part of that background, so employers should still plan for them. The students' concern about waste also points to material efficiency becoming a topic for buyers.

Frequently asked questions

When and where was Maker Faire Rome 2026?

It ran from 23 to 25 October 2026 at the Gazometro Ostiense in Rome, organised by the Rome Chamber of Commerce.

Which 3D printing brands were at the fair?

Nital S.p.A. brought Creality, Anycubic and xTool, and Elegoo and Prusa also had stands.

This summary was written with the help of AI from the linked reports, under the editorial responsibility of Svetozar Kolesar.