This year, MGA also focused clearly on political lobbying, both at national and European level.

At the beginning of November, we visited Brussels with a delegation from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics and met with representatives of the EU Commission for the areas of economics and research. We also held discussions with the European Defence Agency and the two European umbrella organisations Cecimo and Orgalim with a view to working together in future to represent the industry’s goals.

The aim is to actively put Additive Manufacturing on the agenda, both with political decision-makers and with the Commission. We would like to see support for this key enabler technology, which has become indispensable in defence policy and industry.

The most important technologies in 3D printing still come from Europe! It is important to maintain and expand this lead, but this will not be possible without funding and support. Other nations such as China and the USA are pursuing a clear technology management and strategy. This can also be seen in concrete terms in the funding that flows into Additive Manufacturing, for example via the American military, to the tune of $1 billion per year.

China has also formulated a clear strategy to control standardisation in Additive Manufacturing by 2035. Whoever writes the standards regulates the industry. This realisation has already made its way to the Commission, and now action must follow.

Together with the aforementioned organisations and the European AM associations, with whom we are in close contact, we want to continue on this path in 2026.

What issues are you concerned about and should we try to integrate them into the funding programmes together?

Reach out to us and share your thoughts!