BEGO and Renishaw agree to additive manufacturing license

BEGO has long been a leader in dental prosthodontics. Renishaw is a worldwide trendsetter in the field of engineering technologies. For the two companies, it’s a match made in heaven: They’ve just come to an agreement that provides Renishaw a license to use BEGO patents for additive manufacturing in dental applications.

Christoph Weiss, managing partner of BEGO says, “We are delighted to find in Renishaw an innovative and strong licensee. The dental industry is one of the most competitive industries worldwide and the licensing agreement strengthens the position of Renishaw and BEGO. In particular the license agreement emphasizes the BEGO strategy of investing in new technologies and to be a key innovator in the dental industry.”

Geoff McFarland, Renishaw’s Group Engineering Director, adds, “This is an important agreement for Renishaw which allows us to sell and utilize our own additive manufacturing machines for dental market applications, and gives our customers access to important patents of BEGO who is the pioneer in this field. It also comes at a time when we are introducing a range of innovative processes for the manufacture of dental structures.”

The additive manufacturing (AM) technologies that BEGO launched into the dental industry in 2001 allow the production of precision metal parts direct from 3D CAD data in a layer building process that removes many of the design limitations and material waste associated with conventional ‘subtractive’ milling processes.

BEGO has now concluded comparable licensing agreements with three suppliers of additive manufacturing technologies: Renishaw, EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems and SLM Solutions GmbH. 

“The license agreement with Renishaw underlines BEGO’s approach to create win-win-solutions in the dental sector and therefore merchandise our patent portfolio successfully”, concludes Dr. Thomas Kosin, technical director of BEGO.

Photo credit: Christoph Weiss, Managing Partner of BEGO (left) and Sir David McMurtry, Chairman and Chief Executive of Renishaw