Due to the situation created by COVID-19 pandemic, and with the good will to help the medical staff engaged in the fight against this disease in Albania, the Mechanical Engineering Faculty (MEF) part of Polytechnic University of Tirana decided to make available its technological and technical assets. 

The Lead Partner Polytechnic University of Bari, represented by Professor Luigi Maria Galantucci, approved the use of the 3D-IMP-ACT laboratory at MEF, to produce 3D protective face shield masks. This created the opportunity for the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and for the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme, to become a promoter of initiatives in the fight against COVID-19, at the institutional level in Albania. 

MEF joined in the end of March the FACESHIELD Albania group initiated by two architects Dea Buza and Albano Guma, with the production and delivery of the first twenty 3D masks to Mother Teresa University Hospital Center, in Tirana. 

Meanwhile, work is continuing with the production of other masks, with the overall objective of producing about 500 of them.