Educators & Students | Protolabs

Educators & Students

Whether you're teaching a class of future engineers, prototyping in a university laboratory, or expanding your manufacturing knowledge with continued learning, you'll find a mix of valuable design tools here.

For years we’ve collaborated with professors, researchers, and students at colleges and universities around the world as they develop new products and technology under tight timelines and often limited budgets. Many times, the ground-breaking ideas behind new and innovative products are hatched inside university walls, and those products nearly always need manufacturing resources.

Educational Resources

Looking for resources to better design products for manufacturability or simply want to further your manufacturing knowledge in the workplace? We have free physical design aids, in-depth white papers, case studies from every industry, and live and on-demand webinars.

Our Design Cube, for example, is often used in college classrooms as a teaching aid for students learning the intricacies of molding design. Similarly, engineering managers can use white papers and webinars as ongoing educational development for new engineers on their teams.

[Design Aids](/content/resources/design-aids/ "Design Aids"/index.html)

Learn about the design elements, materials, and surface finishes of injection-molded parts by registering for our free design aids.

[White Papers](/content/resources/guides-and-trend-reports/ "White Papers"/index.html)

Read in-depth white papers on rapid manufacturing processes, part design, material properties, and other important considerations.

[Partnerships](/content/resources/partnerships/ "Case Studies"/index.html)

See how innovative companies are using rapid manufacturing to solve complex development challenges and launch successful products to market.

[Webinars](/content/resources/events-trade-shows/ "Webinars & Trade Shows"/index.html)

Join us for live webinars each month and watch on-demand webinars at your convenience.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Challenge expand_more

University of Minnesota Competition Pairs Product Innovation with Digital Manufacturing

[Read More](/content/resources/blog/university-of-minnesota-competition-pairs-product-innovation-with-digital-manufacturing/ "University of Minnesota Competition Pairs Product Innovation with Digital Manufacturing"/index.html)

Harvard Innovation Labs expand_more

Born out of Harvard’s Innovation Lab, Whoop used rapid machining, molding to accelerate development of its fitness tracker.

[Learn More](/content/resources/partnerships/whoop-inc/ "Whoop Inc."/index.html)

Duke Biomedical Engineering

We provide design aids, material samples, and books to Duke's Biomedical Engineering Masters program to help students learn more about digital manufacturing.

Manufacturing Resources

Our in-house engineering experience and ability to produce quick-turn parts are well-suited for universities' iterative development cycles and short deadlines. Choose from industrial-grade 3D printing (additive manufacturing), CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding for prototypes and functional, end-use parts within days.

Want another great design resource? If you have a design already, your 3D CAD model can be uploaded on our website for an interactive quote within minutes that contains free [design for manufacturability analysis](/content/prodesk/ "Online Quoting and Manufacturing Analysis"/index.html). It helps you make important design adjustments to part geometry before any actual manufacturing begins, saving you precious development time and money, and ultimately accelerating your idea and product to market.

[CNC Machining](/content/services/cnc-machining/ "CNC Machining"/index.html)

Get pricing discounts on quantities greater than 15 machined parts along additional options like quality reporting, finishing, and assembly capabilities.

[3D Printing](/content/services/3d-printing/ "3D Printing"/index.html)

With tight process controls, careful design reviews, and extensive quality monitoring, we ensure precise and repeatable 3D-printed parts, every time.

[Injection Molding](/content/services/injection-molding/ "Injection Molding"/index.html)

Our injection molding service offers two options—prototyping and on-demand manufacturing—which provide you with a tooling solution tailored to your project requirements.

[Sheet Metal Fabrication](/content/services/sheet-metal-fabrication/ "Sheet Metal Fabrication"/index.html)

Choose from multiple sheet metal materials and take advantage of finishing options like hardware insertion, component assembly, and plating.