Every year, the Formnext Awards recognize groundbreaking innovations, sustainable concepts, and special achievements that have had a significant impact on the industry. Besides being published online prior to the event, the finalists in each category presented themselves at Formnext to enable attendees to vote for their favorites both on site and digitally. The overall audience vote was then treated like the vote of an additional jury member. The trophies were designed by SUTOSUTO and produced by FKM Additive Manufacturing, with Renishaw and Fluxo Technologies also sponsoring the awards.
AMbassador Award
The AMbassador Award recognizes outstanding individuals or organizations that have had a unique impact on the AM industry and its users through personal advocacy or innovative approaches to training and education. The winner in 2025 was Irena Heuzeroth. An engineer and senior AM trainer in the field of injection molding, Irena Heuzeroth has been very involved in the practical study course "Certified Industrial Technician Specializing in Additive Manufacturing", which is offered jointly by the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the SKZ. The course covers the entire 3D Printing process chain – from the materials used, their processing, and design engineering to the various processes involved – and includes aspects such as energy, hydraulics, and occupational safety.
Jury member Dr. Irene Skibinski, Expert Additive Manufacturing at the VDMA Working Group AM, emphasizes that "the current challenging economic situation makes it all the more important to invest in innovation – and thus in well-trained AM specialists – in order to make our industry competitive and fit for the future. The finalists for the AMbassador Award are doing outstanding work and making significant advancements in this area."
Design Award
The Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd won the jury over with its extraordinary AM designs to take home the 2025 Formnext Design Award. The Grabbit products developed by this university are designed to help train the hands – in the case of illness, injury, or age-related weakness, for example. Grabbit is made from a combination of TPU lattice structures, PA12, and ash wood.
Jury member Prof. Oliver Tessmann from the Technical University of Darmstadt was also impressed by the quality and diversity of the innovations submitted for the hotly contested Design Award: "The submissions for this award fascinate me every year because the entrants really run the gamut, from large corporations to up-and-coming designers. In the end, it's the most exciting and relevant idea that counts, and the field is always open."
(R)Evolution Award
The winner of the 2025 (R)Evolution Award is the Laempe Mössner Sinto GmbH. This prize recognizes pioneering products, technologies, or services that offer particular added value to the user. This company has developed a 3D Printing system for the large-scale production of sand cores, which it has successfully put into operation at the BMW Group. The system produces more than 1,100 cores per day, making it one of the fastest binder jetting printers in the world.
Jury member Prof. Jennifer Johns from the University of Bristol Business School was among the many who came away impressed by this year’s entries: "The (R)Evolution Award received a large number of high-quality applications demonstrating the applicability of 3D Printing across different sectors and to solve problems conventional manufacturing cannot."
Rookie Award
IAM3DHUB – Project „3DMyMask“ is the winner of the 2025 Rookie Award, which honors individuals with promising business ideas who have not yet founded a company or did so less than a year ago. 3DMyMask uses Additive Manufacturing in combination with 3D face-scanning to produce customized silicone masks that improve the treatment of disorders like respiratory distress. Behind the project are neonatologists, industrial engineers, and entrepreneurs, all of whom are involved in the IAM3DHUB ecosystem.
"The quality and diversity of this year's submissions are a striking demonstration of how AM is driving innovation across industries and thereby opening up more and more new industrial applications," says Dr. Sascha Schwarz, CTO and Managing Director of Additive Manufacturing at TUM Venture Labs, as well as a jury member for the Formnext Rookie and Start-up Awards. "The Rookie Award finalists represent the next generation of marketable innovations that are only possible with AM. They offer a compelling combination of pioneering technologies, entrepreneurial spirit, and a clear vision for the future of production."
Start-up Award supported by Fluxo Technologies
The Start-up Award supported by Fluxo Technologies, which honors young, inspiring companies with viable business models, was won by PERFI Technologies. With a technique it calls Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (VAM), the company is promising to significantly improve conventional 3D Printing by "printing" every point of an object simultaneously instead of layer by layer. This cuts production time from hours to just seconds while rendering support structures unnecessary and reducing post-processing to a minimum.
Jury member Alex Kingsbury, AM Product Line Manager Additive Manufacturing at nLight, was also impressed by the extraordinary innovations of this year's Start-up Award finalists: "The finalists in this year's Formnext Start-up Award exemplify the creativity, courage, and technical excellence driving the next wave of Additive Manufacturing. Their breakthroughs aren't just promising, they're laying the groundwork for meaningful change across multiple industries."
Sustainability Award supported by Renishaw
The Sustainability Award supported by Renishaw recognizes AM applications and products based not just on production processes, but the entire life cycle. The 2025 winner is EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems. This company has developed a filter system that neutralizes condensate, soot, ultra-fine particles, and other reactive by-products of metal-based AM directly in the production process. These substances are considered hazardous waste and cause high disposal costs, not to mention CO₂ emissions due to transportation and chemical treatment. The new recirculating air filter system that EOS is presenting at Formnext 2025 converts highly reactive particles into stable metal oxides, which can then be safely disposed of or even recycled. According to EOS, this chemical-free filtration and integrated oxidation technology not only protects the environment, but is also economically sustainable.
Jury member Sherri Monroe, Executive Director of the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association, praised the very high overall quality of the innovations in the area of sustainability: “The submissions under the Sustainability category were very strong. They were commercially viable, varied in scope, and ranged from very specific technology advancements to broad business impact.”
For more information about the Formnext Awards and this year's winners, please visit www.formnext.com/awards.
Formnext
International exhibition and convention on the next generation of manufacturing technologies
The Formnext will be held from 18 - 21 November 2025.
Press information and photographic material:
Links to websites:
Formnext – Hub for Additive Manufacturing
https://www.facebook.com/formnext
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/formnext
https://www.instagram.com/formnext/
Your contact:
Franziska Richter Levin
Telefon: +49 711 61946-574
Franziska.Richter-Levin@mesago.com
Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH
Rotebuehlstraße 83 -85
70178 Stuttgart
Germany
Background information on Formnext
Formnext is the hub for Additive Manufacturing, industrial 3D Printing and the next generation of intelligent manufacturing solutions. In addition to the annual highlight, the expo in Frankfurt/Germany, we provide our clients worldwide with a variety of relevant updates, insights and events around Additive Manufacturing (AM) as well as the related technologies along the entire process chains. Formnext is organized by Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH (formnext.com).
Background information on Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH
Since 1982, Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH has specialized in creating B2B formats for specific technology topics. Having originally emerged from the trade fair and congress sector, the company now offers much more than internationally established technology events. Thanks to the consistent development of its portfolio, Mesago connects leading players worldwide through innovative platforms in the form of industry-specific technology hubs, available 24/7, 365 days a year. Alongside traditional expos and conferences, these hubs comprise digital events, in-depth knowledge formats, and comprehensive services that are tailored to the specific requirements of individual industries.
These hubs create a dynamic space for a timely exchange of information and technological innovation, providing a year-round flow of content. With a view to the ever-changing needs of trade communities, Mesago creates ideal conditions through its forward-looking formats, primarily to further develop an even more efficient global network and to ensure that it is always up to date with the latest developments. This is true to the company's motto: 'Driving technologies by connecting bright minds'.
As part of the Messe Frankfurt Group, Mesago employs around 170 people at its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. (mesago.com)
Background information on Messe Frankfurt
www.messefrankfurt.com/background-information
Sustainability at Messe Frankfurt
www.messefrankfurt.com/sustainability-information
Background information on the Working Group Additive Manufacturing (Honorary Sponsor)
Within the Working Group Additive Manufacturing, about 200 companies and research institutes collaborate under the direction of the German industry federation VDMA. Here, plant engineers; component and material suppliers; industrial companies that work with metals and plastics; service providers in software, manufacturing, and processing; and numerous researchers all work toward the same goal: the industrialization of additive manufacturing techniques. (am.vdma.org)