Design generally represents the main creative activity of engineering. Over the past few years, polymer-based materials have become popular in many applications, and new advances are being made for the design of novel biomedical devices. In this context, additive manufacturing allows for the design of advanced devices with complex geometry and architectural features, as well as with tailored mechanical and functional properties.

However, the engineering design process consists of a series of steps that engineers usually use to create functional processes and products. Research, design requirements, feasibility, concept generation, preliminary design, detailed design, design for manufacturability, and production planning (and tool design) are the common stages of the engineering design process, even if more simplified and generalized models have also been proposed in the literature.

Conceptual design can be regarded as the first phase of design. This phase provides a description of the proposed device in terms of a set of integrated ideas and concepts about its function, behavior, and structure. A concept study (i.e., conceptualization and conceptual design) can be seen as a phase of project planning, which includes producing ideas, as well as considering the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the ideas. Thus, once a problem is defined, potential solutions may be identified. The process by which ideas are generated is used to find the solutions (i.e., ideation and concept generation).

Furthermore, in the field of mechanical engineering, creative design is widely employed to develop novel and practical solutions, in which the innovation may be in the function, structure, or working principle. Creative design and analytical knowledge are generally employed to turn a concept into a real and functional device. The creative design of biomedical devices involves novel and creative engineering techniques for systematically generating all possible design configurations, in order to meet the design requirements and constraints.

Accordingly, it is through the combination of design methods and additive manufacturing that the current Special Issue is aimed, presenting criteria and strategies for the development of advanced biomedical devices.

For this reason, in the present Special Issue we invite authors to submit papers with the aim of providing a complete view of the current progresses.

With a focus on additive manufacturing for biomedical applications, potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Design for additive manufacturing
• Design methods
• Conceptual design
• Creative design
• Design of experiments
• Creativity and ideation
• 3D/4D printing
• Manufacturing process
• Lattice structures
• Lightweight structures
• Quality design
• Biomimetics and bioinspiration
• Topology optimization
• Computational design
• Artificial intelligence methods
• Computer-aided design
• Computer-aided engineering
• Reverse engineering
• Finite element analysis
• Modeling and simulation
• Scaffold design for tissue engineering
• Prosthesis design
• Design of advanced devices
• Design of drug delivery systems

Prof. Dr. Massimo Martorelli
Prof. Dr. Antonio Gloria
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.