GIPAT and the Polystyrene Revolution
Flavio Prattico is a doctor of research and a mechanical engineer. During his studies, he noticed a gap existing in the technology market in relation to the production of materials: "There wasn't a technology allowing any shape to be created with polystyrene through the use of a common CNC machine, and so I built and promoted Polyshaper with my two partners", he says. He is talking about his cousin Francesco Riccio, who's about to graduate in Economics and Legislation at Bocconi University and Carmine Gianfagna, electronics engineer. All three together form the "Giovani Imprenditori Pronti a Tutto" (GIPAT). "Through Polyshaper you can realize cheap architectural models, decoration molds for composite materials and terracotta or customized packaging for unique items", continues Flavio. "We are thinking about selling it on the retail market, but we have not ruled out the possibility of selling Polyshaper directly to industries producing polystyrene".
"When Flavio was cultivating this idea, he met Carmine at the University of L'Aquila and the fact that he was an electronics expert was ideal at the moment. So they decided to build the first version of Polyshaper, which was made of wood and very rudimentary, but fully functional", says Francesco. "Then they realized that they needed someone who knows some economics, because they invented this technology, but it had to be launched on the market. Then Flavio remembered that I was studying it at Bocconi". Francesco remembers that he was skeptical at first, but he changed his mind after being at Maker Faire Rome, an event in which all makers and technology lovers meet to present their projects and where Flavio and Carmine brought the Polyshaper prototype. "We attracted a lot of curious and interested people, from architects who wanted to print their projects in 3D, to those who wanted to produce special models".
The advantages of this technology are, on the one hand, the very low cost of the polystyrene when compared with other materials such as plastic, and, on the other hand, the possibility of making small series and unique items eliminating the human error that often happens in the transition from project to realization.
The startup created by GIPAT is incubated by Speed MI Up, an initiative by the Milan Chamber of Commerce and Bocconi University (with contributions from the City of Milan), which helps and supports new entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.