March 07, 2017

7 march 2017


BNP Paribas Cardif and the e-Nable France association have signed a partnership to support families who have a child with agenesis1. Families will receive training and a 3D printer that they can use to themselves make prosthetic hands for their children.

The e-Nable community counts over 10,000 volunteers around the world who design, make and donate 3D printed hands and arms for people without fingers or hands due to malformation or accident. e-Nable France is a non-profit association. Within the scope of its corporate social responsibility policy, BNP Paribas Cardif will provide support for the association, leveraging new technologies to help people with disabilities.

“Relay Family” project to help the largest possible number of people

Through this partnership, BNP Paribas Cardif is providing both human and financial resources for the e-Nable France association, in particular by supporting development of a “Relay Family” initiative.

Over 400 children are born each year in France with a member that has failed to develop fully. Given growing demand, e-Nable is seeking to equip the largest possible number of families with 3D printers and train them to allow them autonomy in producing 3D printed hands.

Once trained and equipped, the families will be able to make hands for their child, as well as for other families in the same geographic area. The association will provide equipment for three families during the first quarter of 2017. The objective is to equip a dozen families by the end of 2017. BNP Paribas Cardif will support the association for training of these “Relay Families”, as well as for assembly of the 3D printed hands.

Cardif Lab'2 has already printed and assembled around 40 3D printed hands

The signature of this partnership marks a significant additional stage in the support provided to e-Nable by BNP Paribas Cardif. Beginning in 2016, BNP Paribas Cardif gave the association access to the 3D printer at Cardif Lab’, the company’s innovation lab, for printing of prosthetic hands. Some 40 hands have been produced using computer-designed models available thanks to an open-source design.

Workshops were then organized for staff during their lunch break, giving the company’s employees a chance to learn about the e-Nable association and help assemble the hands. A hundred people volunteered to take part in this project. Some of the hands were donated to the ergotherapy department of Saint Maurice hospital in December 2016. Additional workshops have been scheduled to assemble more hands at Cardif Lab’.

We are very proud to sign this partnership agreement, making a new stage in our cooperation with the e-Nable France association. As a company with strong commitments to social responsibility and support for the most vulnerable members of society, BNP Paribas Cardif is applying new technologies to help people with disabilities,” said Stéphanie Tarin, in charge of the insurer’s disabilities program.

This initiative is also important because our staff are directly involved and are very enthusiastic about being a part of this inspiring effort by helping assemble 3D printed hands for children at Cardif Lab’,” added Jérôme Mlynarczyk, Head of Technological Innovation and co-founder of Cardif Lab’.

 

1Agenesis is the incomplete formation of a body parts

2 Located at the head office of BNP Paribas Cardif in Nanterre since 2014, Cardif Lab’ valorizes the digital innovations developed by the company in the 36 countries where it is present, as well as new high-tech developments with potential application for the insurance industry of the future.