The US Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an Additive Manufacturing Partnership Meeting on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model.

The technology is growing in use, including in such fields as jewelry, footwear, architecture, engineering and construction, automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries.

The meeting will serve as a forum for sharing ideas, experiences, and insights between stakeholders and the USPTO. Industry representatives will also provide an overview of the application of additive manufacturing in different technologies.

Individual opinions are sought from varying participants, and the meetings are intended to be informal in nature. These partnership groups are formed with full recognition of the USPTO’s responsibility under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), and are not established as FACA-compliant committees.