In a bid to raise awareness of social and environmental issues faced by young people, Mimaki partnered with Minecraft and a French Government administration in the nationwide competition.

The brief was to design the “ultimate” sustainable town adhering to criteria such as optimising water and energy management, improving quality of life and providing solutions to tackle climate change.

Professionals from Microsoft and IGN executives, architects, social media influencers and government officials from France’s ‘Ministère de la Cohésion des Territoires et des Relations avec les Collectivités Territoriales’ formed the judging panel, with over 1,200 entrants to choose from.

A Mimaki 3DUJ-553 full-colour 3D printer was used to bring the winner’s complex design to life – taking over 19 hours.

A total of nine entrants were chosen across four categories: Young Individuals, Young Teams, Adult and Professional Teams, and Educational Projects. Louis Varin, aged 16-years-old was chosen for the Special Jury Prize and overall winner.

Thierry Lim, area sales manager for Mimaki comments: “It has been very inspiring to see so many conscientious and visionary young people engaging with technology to explore environmental solutions and imaging living spaces with sustainability at the core. To be able to push technology even further and actually bring the participants’ designs to life in front of their eyes is a real privilege – and that is entirely down to the capabilities of the 3DUJ-553.

“With these young people already imagining the kings of innovations which might shape their futures, it is exciting to be able to share with them the cutting-edge advances in 3D printing technology and provide an insight into the immeasurable possibilities that it might hold for them in years to come.”

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