Additive manufacturing Formnext Awards 2026 finalists announced across six categories

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From surgical implants and rocket engines to copper recycling and hybrid production, the Formnext Awards 2026 finalists span six categories of additive manufacturing. Public voting is open until 19 November, when the winners will be announced at the exhibition.

New specialized AM production technologies, groundbreaking applications in textiles, aerospace, and medicine, as well as innovative concepts for recycling and AM education: the Formnext Awards 2026 once again recognize outstanding achievements in six categories, honoring, among others, young innovative companies, sustainable business ideas, and pioneering technologies. The finalists have now been selected by the respective juries and will present their exhibits both online ahead of the exhibition and in a special showcase at Formnext.

Visitors to Formnext can experience all finalists at the Formnext Awards Showcase (Hall 11.0, booth F60). The winners will be announced and the awards presented on Thursday, 19 November 2026, starting at 4:10 p.m. at the Industry & Application Stage (Hall 11.0, booth D72). In addition, all finalists are already featured on the Formnext Awards website. Voting is open for all categories until Thursday, 19 November 2026, at 12:00 p.m., with the public online vote counting as an additional jury vote.

Ambassador award: From university education to Brazil’s AM map

The Ambassador Award recognizes outstanding individuals or organizations that make a unique impact on the industry and its users through innovative training and educational approaches or through personal advocacy for Additive Manufacturing.

One of this year’s finalists is Dr. Michael Kraemer from the AM Center at TU Darmstadt, who is dedicated to educating future AM specialists. Each year, between 50 and 60 students complete the center’s educational programs, which also include more than 20 student projects and 10 doctoral theses over a three-year period. Additional AM training opportunities are offered to apprentices in cooperation with the IHK Rhein-Main and to professionals from industry.

Professor Leroy Gardner and the Steel Structures Research Group at Imperial College London are advancing the use of metal AM in construction. Their work combines experimental research, structural optimization, design development, robotic metal 3D Printing, and full-scale testing. Among their achievements are the world’s first 3D-printed steel bridge, developed together with MX3D, and a hybrid steel truss structure featuring additively manufactured nodes.

Mechanical engineer Luan Saldanha of Aditiva Brasil has created the Additive Manufacturing Map of Brazil, making the country’s AM ecosystem more visible and interconnected. He also publishes the AM newsletter Panorama MA, operates the industry news platform Manufatura Digital, and produces educational AM content on YouTube and Instagram.

Design award: 3D-printed bras, implants, and rocket engines

The range of exceptional AM designs that have reached the finals could hardly be more diverse, spanning from a 3D-printed bra to a rocket engine.

As part of her Master’s degree in Industrial Design at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, Maya Kaplan developed the Computational Bra, a 3D-printed garment that demonstrates how computationally designed textile structures can strategically combine elasticity, support, and compression within a single product. These functionalities are directly integrated into the textile and produced from TPU material using a desktop FDM 3D printer.

At the Levin Center of the Tel Aviv Sourasky University Medical Center, a monolithic, anatomy-conformal titanium implant was developed and successfully used in surgery. Combined with point-of-care 3D surgical planning, the implant, produced from medical-grade Ti-6Al-4V titanium, sets new standards in areas including the treatment of bone cancer in children and adolescents.

Indian space-tech start-up Agnikul Cosmos has developed a single-piece semi-cryogenic rocket engine manufactured in Inconel using 3D Printing. Designed specifically for Additive Manufacturing from the outset, the engine has already been successfully deployed as part of the Agnibaan SOrTeD Mission 2024.

(R)Evolution award: Innovations from dentistry to micrometer-scale 3D printing

The (R)Evolution Award honors groundbreaking products, technologies, and services that deliver exceptional value to users. This year’s finalists are advancing applications ranging from dental technology to micrometer-scale 3D Printing.

With its new Ghost machine, Fyous aims to introduce a completely new way of manufacturing aligners and retainers. Its Polymorphic Moulding technology creates molds temporarily using thousands of precisely actuaded pins.

Malta-based Thought 3D promises improved tensile strength and significantly enhanced performance for materials such as nylon with its inline filament dryer Drywise. Instead of drying an entire filament spool, the system dries only the filament segment immediately before extrusion.

For micron-level 3D Printing, Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) has developed the Microarch S150 desktop printer. Based on Projection Micro Stereolithography (PµSL) technology, it achieves an optical resolution of 25 μm. Applications include microfluidic channels, fiber-optic components, and electronic components.

Rookie award: From battery recycling to copper recycling

The Rookie Award recognizes individuals with promising business ideas who have either not yet founded their company or have done so within the last year.

This year’s finalists are developing solutions for battery recycling and copper 3D Printing while further advancing an AM process originally developed for aerospace applications.

The engineering initiative cAIclone (founding in preparation) develops AI-optimized, 3D-printed hydrocyclones for fine-particle separation in the 1-50 µm range. The Munich-based founding team initially targets the battery recycling market.

Flexcycle Solutions produces copper powder for Additive Manufacturing and powder metallurgy from electronic industry waste. The powder is manufactured entirely through a mechanical process, resulting in a spherical-rough particle morphology that improves laser absorption in LPBF applications.

Spaceform develops Vacuum Atomised Suspension Printing (VASP), a new architecture for metal Additive Manufacturing. During the process, a metal-powder suspension is vacuum-dried before laser processing, creating a stable and cohesive powder layer. Initial applications include RF components, advanced thermal management, and precision fluidics.

Start-up award: New additive manufacturing concepts in focus

The Start-up Award recognizes young AM companies with sustainable business models and market-ready products. This year’s finalists focus on new Additive Manufacturing concepts.

With its AX-150 system, Aumatis uses AM to automate a traditional process employed in industry and jewelry production. A 3D-printed plastic model is embedded in a proprietary investment compound, burned out, and then cast under vacuum.

The Swiss start-up sallea develops 3D-printed soluble cores and tooling that simplify the production of lightweight components with complex geometries. Initial applications include thermoset CFRP components for motorsports and the sporting goods industry.

Hydra Manufacturing develops hybrid manufacturing technologies for challenging-to-process materials, including advanced ceramics and cemented carbides. By combining paste extrusion, green-state machining, and in-process inspection in a single machine, the company significantly expands the range of processable materials, including silicon carbide and hard metals.

Berlin-based start-up Additive Stream 4D follows a similarly hybrid approach with retrofit technologies that enable standard metal LPBF systems to manufacture precisely on existing geometries. Potential applications include advanced cutting tools and the repair of high-value parts such as turbomachinery components.

With its simulation software, QH Build aims to make Additive Manufacturing more efficient. In one WLAM application, implementation was completed 72 percent faster and with 64 percent lower cost per part. QH Build combines industrial robotics, multiphysics simulation, and a controller-aware digital twin to reduce costly trial-and-error in metal DED.

Sustainability award supported by Renishaw: Recycling, spare parts, and CO₂ data

The finalists for the Sustainability Award, which recognizes AM products and applications based on their entire product life cycle, are Flexcycle Solutions, BMF GmbH, and Baker Hughes.

Flexcycle Solutions impressed the jury with its mechanical production of copper powder for Additive Manufacturing and powder metallurgy from manufacturing waste streams (see Rookie Award for additional details).

BMF (Bernstein Mechanische Fertigung) provides customers with a 3D printer alongside its blasting systems, enabling them to produce plastic spare parts on demand. The required design files are made available through the cloud-based spare parts catalog Digitalsource.

With its Manufacturing Carbon Platform, Baker Hughes enables manufacturers to make better-informed decisions based on carbon data. The platform provides transparency regarding the environmental impact of additive production processes, from quotation through delivery.

Awards ceremony and online voting

As part of the awards ceremony, the winners in each category will receive attractive cash and non-cash prizes as well as unique award trophies, designed by Sutosuto and manufactured by FKM Additive Manufacturing.

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