Materialise And Hoya Vision Care Partner To Deliver 3D-Printed, Vision Examination System And End User Visualisation Equipment To Eye Care Professionals

LEUVEN, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Materialise NV (NASDAQ:MTLS), is proud to announce a partnership with HOYA Vision Care, a division of HOYA Group, a global med-tech company and the leading supplier of innovative high-tech and medical products, to co-create and manufacture parts for high-quality visualisation equipment and vision examination systems for optical shops. By working together with Materialise’s design and engineering team and by producing parts in Materialise’s certified additive manufacturing facility HOYA aims to realize a range of tools that empower eye care professionals to deliver an enhanced customer experience and differentiate themselves in the highly competitive eyewear industry.

“In Materialise, we have found an ideal partner for co-creating, engineering and manufacturing new innovations that can quickly be brought to the market with the quality expected of the HOYA name”

The first systems to be brought to market as a result of this collaboration are HOYA Vision Simulator and HOYA EyeGenius. The first is a highly innovative tool that allows consumers to experience their new lenses before they buy them, in store by means of virtual reality. The second is a complete vision examination system with a new method to detect and correct fixation disparity.

Materialise Executive Vice President of Production, Bart Van der Schueren, stated, “HOYA has a known commitment to using creativity and innovation to become the leading company in niche markets, making them not only an ideal co-creation partner, but also a company ready to utilize Materialise’s certified manufacturing for high-quality, end-use products. With the first products already making their way onto the market, with great initial feedback, together with HOYA we are proving the added-value that 3D printing is ready to deliver to the entire eyewear industry.”

“In Materialise, we have found an ideal partner for co-creating, engineering and manufacturing new innovations that can quickly be brought to the market with the quality expected of the HOYA name,” stated Felix España, New Media Manager EMEA for Hoya Vision Care, “Materialise’s design and engineering experts work closely with our own to identify the designs, technologies and materials needed to introduce true innovation into the eyewear industry and deliver a premium consumer experience. Materialise’s software expertise and manufacturing capacity are then able to turn these concepts into high-quality, end-use products in quantities that meet the demands of our customers.”

About Materialise
Materialise incorporates more than 25 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of the 3D printing industry. Materialise’s open and flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications that aim to make the world a better and healthier place. Headquartered in Belgium, with branches worldwide, Materialise combines the largest group of software developers in the industry with one of the largest 3D printing facilities in the world. For additional information, please visit: www.materialise.com.

About Materialise’s Manufacturing Division
Materialise Manufacturing empowers 3D printing customers, both rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, to keep tight production deadlines and meet the quality standards of even the most demanding industries. The division’s designers and engineers work closely with customers to co-create new products and applications that make meaningful use of 3D printing. Two web platforms, Materialise OnSite for industrial orders and i.materialise for small businesses and consumers, offer easy access to one of the largest and most complete 3D printing facilities in the world. In addition, a certified manufacturing environment caters to customers who operate in highly regulated markets. For more information, please visit: http://manufacturing.materialise.com/

About HOYA
Founded in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, HOYA is a global med-tech company and the leading supplier of innovative high-tech and medical products. HOYA is active in the fields of healthcare and information technology providing eyeglasses, medical endoscopes, intraocular lenses, optical lenses as well as key components for semiconductor devices, LCD panels and HDDs. With over 150 offices and subsidiaries worldwide, HOYA currently employs a multinational workforce of over 34,000 people. For more information please visit www.hoya.com or www.hoya.eu.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this press release are “forward-looking” and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to, among other things, our planned commercialization efforts and regulatory approvals of our technologies as well as the success thereof and our research and development projects. These forward-looking statements are based upon the expectations of management under current assumptions at the time of this press release. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control that may cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations. We are providing this information as of the date of this press release and do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this presentation as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless we have obligations under the federal securities laws to update and disclose material developments related to previously disclosed information.