The award-winning innovations demonstrate the high innovative strength of 3D printing and the AM market. The international winners, who will present themselves to the AM world at Formnext 2022, are Photosynthetic (Netherlands), Lattice Medical (France), Rivelin Robotics (UK), Spherecube (Italy) and Alpha Powders (Poland). The AM Ventures Impact Award also went to Lattice Medical.

The innovations of the young companies not only impress with a high level of creativity in the development of the products, but also with the viability of the business models. The start-ups have already been granted patents or have patents pending and have already demonstrated applications.

The Warsaw-based start-up Alpha Powders has developed and patented a technology for modifying polymer powder as required. The Dutch start-up Photosynthetic, which specializes in fast and cost-effective micro 3D printing, is also working with very small dimensions. British start-up Rivelin Robotics aims to create greater efficiency in the additive process chain. Its NetShape robots are designed to reduce operating costs and errors in post-processing by a factor of 10.

More stability, on the other hand, is the big issue for SphereCube. The Italian start-up has developed a 3D printer that processes composite materials with continuous fiber reinforcement. This should make it possible to automatically manufacture products from high-performance composites without geometric restrictions. The biomedical start-up Lattice Medical is committed to significantly improving the healing of patients with breast implants and has developed a patented 3D technology that enables the natural accumulation of fatty tissue and thus long-term regeneration without foreign bodies remaining in the patient.

AM Ventures Impact Award

With its submission, Lattice Medical was also able to secure the AM Ventures Impact Award, which recognizes particularly sustainable approaches. In addition to the innovative design and production method, AM Ventures was particularly impressed by the minimization of risks that can occur with traditional implants, the team's technical expertise and the well-founded research results that support the application.

"Every year, AM start-ups take a new development step towards innovative technologies and applications and impress with the increasing quality of their developments and business planning. This proves once again the high potential for innovation in this sector and that decisive developments are emerging here that will influence our industry, medicine and other areas of our lives in the future," says Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President Formnext at trade fair organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH.

The Formnext Start-up Challenge 2022 honors companies that are no more than five years old. The competition recognizes innovative, viable business ideas. The winners will present themselves at their trade fair stands and at the Pitchnext event on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at Formnext.

The winners at a glance

Individually modifying SLS powders
Warsaw-based start-up Alpha Powders (stand 12.0-B81G) has developed and patented a technology for rounding, spheroidizing and modifying polymer powders on demand. The company is currently focusing on developing a compact device tailored for R&D laboratories working on new SLS powders. The prototype has been tested with a variety of materials, including polyamides, TPU or polyolefin powders, and has proven to reliably produce spherical SLS powders in a dry process. The company is continuing to develop this technology and aims to offer pilot and production scale solutions in the coming years.

Better healing through 3D-printed degradable implants
Lattice Medical (stand 12.0-B81B) is a biomedical start-up founded in October 2017. Together with the CHU Lille-France, the French company has developed a patented 3D technology that enables the natural regeneration of fatty tissue and leads to enormous improvements in breast implant procedures, for example. The Mat(t)isse bioprosthesis consists of 3D-printed biomaterials, is completely degradable and is adapted to the individual morphology of the patient. The aim is to ensure that the breasts are completely reconstructed from the patient's tissue after a certain period of time and that no foreign bodies remain in the patient.

Fast micro 3D printing
Photosynthetic (stand 12.0-B81H) specializes in fast and cost-effective micro 3D printing. Usually, 3D microstructures are produced using conventional methods such as two-photon lithography (TPL), stereolithography (SLA) and optical grayscale lithography (OGL). The Dutch start-up's patented technology is based on an optical hardware system, resins based on single-photon polymerization and computer algorithms to control the printing process. Photosynthetic's new micro 3D printer enables fast microfabrication (50 ^mm3/hour) in high-resolution mode (<1 micron).

Significantly reduce post-processing costs
With the development of the NetShape robots, the British start-up Rivelin Robotics(Stand12.0-B41) aims to create a solution for the rapid post-processing of additively manufactured metal parts and components. This is because in many metal AM applications, post-processing accounts for more than 30% of the unit costs per part. With its NetShape robot, the company offers an automated solution for the removal of metal support structures and targeted post-processing. The NetShape robot features proprietary NetShape control software that utilizes both machine learning and traditional deterministic control theory. With the robot, Rivelin promises a 90 percent reduction in errors and a 10-fold reduction in operating costs.

Improved bonding in AM composites
SphereCube (stand 12.0-B81A) has developed a 3D printer that processes polymer-based composites or a thermoset matrix with continuous fiber reinforcement. This should make it possible to automatically manufacture products from high-performance composites without geometric restrictions. According to the Italian start-up, the technology differs from currently available processes by curing the plastic with a heat source, which improves the wetting and bonding of fiber reinforcements and matrix as well as the various 3D-printed layers.