Author: Ingo Schepers

On November 27, we started our long-awaited Techjourney to Israel. We had 4 days of fantastic insights into the highly innovative Israeli AM ecosystem: new technologies, more professional facilities up to completely new business models. Start-Ups specializing in printing meat or vegetable equivalents are just a stone’s throw away of Nano Dimensions circuit board printers.  

After 2019, it was our second AM journey Israel. This year, Tel Aviv was our base, where we visited Tritone Technologies, Sheba Medical Center, Nano Dimension, Steakholder Foods and Massivit 3D Printing Technologies Ltd. A day in Jerusalem was of course not to be missing, where we visited Professor Shlomo Magdassi at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as the startup factory OurCrowd and CASTOR at TAU Ventures.  

A big thank you to all the hosts for taking the time to show us around their facilities and for the great presentations. And a thank you to all the partners and co-organizers Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, Germany Trade & Invest, DREBERIS International Expansion Strategies and BDO Israel.
And last but not least, a special thank you to the participants of the trip: It was great excursions, good conversations and special evenings together. You have made this trip a special experience! For all those who are interested in such AM Tech-Journeys: We are going to host another one to Boston/NewYork already next february, so be fast and register! 

Wednesday, October 12, started at 09.30am for the female representatives of the 3D printing industry when together with Women in 3D Printing we opened the stage for the Women in AM Summit. Our aim was to connect women of the AM world without outside interference in a relaxed and inviting atmosphere – and we did succeed! Coupled with fascinating keynotes speeches from only female speakers on relevant topics such as AM and AI or the innovations of AM in the Medical field and an amazing coaching on female empowerment in negotiations, the Summit was an amazing experience for our participants. And with the support of Berlin Partner for Business and Technology we were able to also send the Ladies on an excursion through Berlin.
While the Summit Participants journeyed through Berlin, we welcomed our MGA Mobility Working Group MATERIALS for their Yearly Gathering. This Working Group – our largest – meets twice a year in full force to discuss the latest developments of the Focus Group and to update the more than 130 active participants of the Group of the upcoming projects. Under the lead of Dr. Tina Schlingmann and with the support of her Focus Group leaders, the Group came together for two hours to talk about the past, present and future.

Next up on the busy agenda was the MGA General Assembly – this is were our association invites its members once a year to account for and report on the last fiscal year. This year, as it is mandatory every two years, our members voted for a new executive board. Gorden Falk, Chairman of the Board, and Güngör Kara both decided not to stand for election again. We would like to take this chance to once again thank both Mr. Falk and Mr. Kara for their commitment to and work for the MGA network during their time as members of the board. We will for sure meet again at some point in the future. It is with great pleasure to introduce the new executive board of MGA as voted by the General Assembly on October 12: Chairwoman Nicole Friedrich (DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung), Vice Chairman Johannes Emmelheinz (Siemens Mobility), Board Member Prof Dr Ing Claus Emmelmann (TU HH) and Board Member Florian Thieringer (University Hospital Basel). We are very much looking forward to working with the new board. The General Assembly also discharged the cash auditor Karsten Reinhardt, who chose not to stand for election again and we would also like to thank Mr. Reinhardt for his service and commitment to the network. We are happy to report that the General Assembly voted Carmen Schmieder (DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung) as the new cash auditor and we are looking forward to working with Mrs. Schmieder.
At this point we would like to thank our advisory board (Oliver Cynamon, Sonja Rasch, Andreas Leupold, Steffen W. Kuhn, Bernhard Winkler, Klaus Roeser) and the extended board (Torsten Wehrkamp, Olaf Steinmeier) for their support during the last two years and hope that the new executive board will be able to rely on their expertise.
After the MGA General Assembly we held the 3D Evening Event – Drink, Dine and Dance and with a little help from our resident DJ Michael Steffen (Movibes) the night was great fun!
On October 13 we then held the MGA Annual Meeting where we welcomed keynotes speaker on stage on relevant topics such as the integration of AM in the design of trains, the use of AM in the German Navy and how M&A can help AM. We also had our first ever exhibition showcasing for example printed parts of the winners of the 3D Pioneers Challenge and other innovative Start-Ups. We also updated the network about our Working Groups and showcased some of the results of the last years that our Groups accomplished. A huge thank you to all our speakers on stage during the event and of course to all our Working Group Leaders for their work before and during the event.
None of these events would have been possible without the great support from our partners for the events:

• Our sponsors (Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, Siemens Mobility, Chromatic 3D Materials, Additive Manufacturing Forum Berlin, Formlabs, EOS, Deutsche Bahn, Women in 3D Printing)
• Our amazing technical provider (AV Union Eventtechnik)
• Our great photographer (Philipp von Recklinghausen)

A special thanks goes to Elena López for being the co-host of the Women in AM Summit and to Stefanie Brickwede for hosting both the Women in AM Summit and the MGA Annual Meeting!
Please save the date for next years event: September 26 & 27 !

And despite Corona, exam period and hot summer temperatures, around 30 students – divided into 6 teams – took on this task. Within the three days of the competition, the students developed their product ideas without any preparation time, the prototypes were created using 3D printing and then “sold” as a business case in front of a renowned jury on the last competition day.

The winner was the team “A3dicted” from the Technical University of Berlin. Congratulations again! Their idea of a completely new exoskeleton called HUMAX, which solves problems of current models like too high weight, bad wearing comfort, too high costs and many more, convinced the jury the most.

Second place went to the Fibrefighters team from HAW Hamburg, and the jury voted the VDI Young Engineers from the Berlin University of Applied Sciences into third place.

A big thank you to the sponsors, without whose support this event would not have been possible: Airbus, Altair, Autodesk, Deutsche Bahn, exoIQ, 9T Labs, Composite Technology Center / CTC GmbH (An Airbus Company)!

We are already looking forward to next year!