Additive Manufacturing Formnext Start-up Challenge: springboard for creative AM business ideas

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AMETEK GmbH Division Creaform Deutschland

MESAGO Messe Frankfurt GmbH

Germany — Every year, a host of new companies emerge in the additive manufacturing industry. To give these start-ups a voice among the more established players, Formnext is this year organising the 8th Formnext Start-up Challenge.

A permanent fixture on the international AM calendar, Formnext has been providing the perfect platform for businesses to present themselves to customers, partners, and potential investors for eight years. Winning the Formnext Start-up Challenge has given an important boost to the market entry of a number of internationally successful companies, including 3Yourmind, Dyemansion, Kumovis, Sinterit, Spectroplast, Trinckle 3D, Xioneer, and many more. In addition to new, creative, and viable business ideas, the subject of sustainability will play an important role at Formnext’s Start-up Challenge. A young company will therefore also be selected from the applicants to receive the AM Impact Ventures Award. Applications are now being invited from companies that are no more than five years old. The deadline for applications is 1 July 2022 and the winners will be announced in September 2022.

In addition to the 3D-printed award, the five winners will each receive an impressive Formnext exhibition and marketing package, which includes, among other things, a fully equipped exhibition booth in the Formnext 2022 Start-up Area and inclusion in all relevant and worldwide Formnext marketing and communication activities. In addition, the winners can participate in a pitch event as part of Formnext, receive an individual company profile from a media sponsor as well as corporate coaching from a member of the judging panel.

The international panel of high-profile representatives from all corners of the industry comprises Dr. Kristian Arntz (CEO, Fraunhofer Center for Networked Adaptive Production Icnap), Stefanie Brickwede (Project Manager, 3d Printing@DB and Managing Director, Mobility goes Additive network), Arno Held (Managing Partner, AM Ventures), Alexander Oster (Director of Additive Manufacturing, Autodesk), Michael Petch (Editor in Chief, 3Dprintingindustry.com), and Peter Mayr (Professor of Additive Manufacturing Materials Technology, Technical University of Munich).

For the third time, a company with a particularly sustainable approach will receive the AM Ventures Impact Award as part of the Start-up Challenge. “With this award, we want to give the topic of sustainability the attention it deserves as part of the Start-up Challenge,” explains Arno Held, Managing Partner at AM Ventures. “We encourage all entrepreneurs to present us their approaches for a sustainable world.” In its evaluation, AM Ventures is guided by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All participants of the Formnext Start-up Challenge are automatically entered into the competition. The winner will receive prize money of 5,000 euros and the opportunity to present themselves to the Formnext audience in a pitch.

Any up-and-coming company with a product or service that is market-ready in terms of customers, product status, and revenue can take part in the Formnext Start-up Challenge, provided the start-up is not majority-owned by an established company and was founded after 1 January 2017.

Formnext event dates:

• Formnext: 15-18 November 2022, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

• Related international events for innovative industrial manufacturing:

• Formnext + PM South China: 14-16 September 2022, Shenzhen, China

• Formnext Forum Tokyo: 27-28 September 2022, Tokyo, Japan

• Asiamold: 1-3 March 2023, Guangzhou, China

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