(Reuters) – Belgium’s Materialise NV, which provides 3D printing software to industrial manufacturers and medical equipment makers, filed with U.S. regulators on Wednesday for an initial public offering of American Depositary Shares. Materialise said it had provided more than 8,000 3D printing software licenses to over 4,000 customers, including Ford Motor Co, Airbus and Boeing Co. 3D printing technology, used to create solid objects from a digital model by laying down successive thin layers of material, has been around for more than 25 years but has only caught the imagination of investors and customers in recent years. Materialise, which also serves consumer industries, said it plans to use proceeds from the offering to expand its business, the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a filing.