Keynote Speakers 2023

1. What do you find most exciting about Additive Manufacturing?

2. Which key developments have taken place in AM over the last 5 years (in terms of technology, materials or applications)?

3. What big challenges is AM facing in the coming years?

4. Of the many possibilities for AM technology, could you give us a brief description of one that you expect or hope will be developed in the near future?

Dr. Barbara Imhof (LIQUIFER Systems Group, Austria)

»AM technologies create structures that are material optimised. They offer tailored solutions that save resources and are sustainable.«

Dr. Mihaela Vlasea (University of Waterloo, Canada)

»The AM industry is a highly dynamic ecosystem, where technological and material science discoveries happen quite fast. This is a reflection of the creativity and passion of people engaged in the sector. The type of talent that AM attracts is probably one of the more exciting aspects of this industry.«

Aditya Chandavarkar (Entrepreneur, India)

»One of the most exciting factors about AM is that decentralizes manufacturing and allows the creation of an inventory light manufacturing business model which saves both cost and has a lower impact of carbon footprint.«

Dr. Özlem Weiss (Expertants GmbH, Germany)

»AM has the potential to shift patient-care towards highly personalized solutions from head to toe. Most people will somehow come into contact with AM. Your teeth, may have or will take the first move.«

Dr. Barbara Imhof (LIQUIFER Systems Group, Austria)

»AM is fully integrated in space exploration and in-situ AM is being developed to a technology readiness level that will allow us to make AM one of the main technologies for construction of infrastructure on celestial bodies beyond earth.«

Dr. Mihaela Vlasea (University of Waterloo, Canada)

»In my view, the more exciting aspects over the past 5 years are twofold. Firstly, there have been advancements in industrialization of additive manufacturing technologies for scale-up (higher productivity, more robust systems, digital feedback, more streamlined software). Secondly, material producers are taking a more active role in the path of discovery and material development that is custom-tailored to leverage the physics of the AM processes at hand.«

Aditya Chandavarkar (Entrepreneur, India)

»AM technology over the last 5 years has evolved at a very fast pace to offer - more efficient performing 3D Printers, wider range of materials including polymers, metal, ceramics, etc and adoption across different applications in aerospace, healthcare, tooling, automotive, jewellery, life sciences and other applications. While there are many key developments in the last 5 years, the three I would like to highlight are:

1) Disruption caused in the dental space – including metal implants, aligners and the complete digitization of the process

2) Improved Patient Outcomes with Patient Specific Implants – While there is still a long way to go, AM in Healthcare has really changed our medical professional think

3) Development of Standards and Certification for the technology, materials and applications which has helped to build the confidence of end users to adopt Additive Manufacturing«

Dr. Özlem Weiss (Expertants GmbH, Germany)

»AM evolution has achieved important milestones. The biggest steps in the last few years have been the growing number of industrially relevant polymers and alloys for AM and the solutions for process integration.«

Dr. Barbara Imhof (LIQUIFER Systems Group, Austria)

»In space exploration AM needs to be developed into a viable, robust and secure technology which requires policy support and financial backing.«

Dr. Mihaela Vlasea (University of Waterloo, Canada)

»The additive manufacturing sector has been traditionally agile, where innovations typically permeate to the market at an accelerated pace. The steady trends observed over the past 5 years or so point to mergers and acquisitions of AM start-ups, which may result in disruption of an equitable innovation pipeline to the public domain. Another challenge, but at the same time presenting opportunity, is the fact that the younger generation of talent is comfortable working in a gig-economy, with short-term vision of employment within an organization.«

Aditya Chandavarkar (Entrepreneur, India)

»Some of the technologies within AM have stabilised and the three key challenges which need to addressed in the coming years are:

1)     Scaling Up

2)     Demand Generation

3)     Lack of trained workforce.«

Dr. Özlem Weiss (Expertants GmbH, Germany)

»Regulations! Especially medical applications, where several AM players may be involved, are very challenging. We need defined interfaces and solutions for fully integrated process chains.«

Dr. Barbara Imhof (LIQUIFER Systems Group, Austria)

»Solar Sintering with lunar sand (regolith) and a concentrated solar beam is one of the most interesting technologies for space exploration since it uses in-situ resources that are available in abundance on the moon. This AM requires no binding material and thus reduces the mass to be launched from earth to establish solar sintered structures. With a small fleet of autonomous robots safe habitats and infrastructure preventing dust contamination of valuable equipment, shielding habitats from radiation and micrometeoroids can be sintered directly on the lunar surface. All these possibilities and opportunities of Solar Sintering display a great potential of this particular AM technology to be developed for a space exploration application.«

Dr. Mihaela Vlasea (University of Waterloo, Canada)

»There are untapped technological and human potentials that could re-shape the sector in ways that may be challenging to forecast at the present time. On the technological side, AM technologies are now offering multi-material printing capabilities; this trend will open up unique design potentials, along with innovations in product development. On the human potential side, there is an emerging talent pool in the African continent that is adopting technology and leveraging opportunities in agile and unexpected ways.«

Aditya Chandavarkar (Entrepreneur, India)

»Applications of AM in Life sciences are very fascinating especially in the area of creating human organs, skin and tissue. It will be very interesting to see this come to life perhaps for emergency transplant patients or burn victims where this can be a life saver.«

Dr. Özlem Weiss (Expertants GmbH, Germany)

»I hope that more ceramics will be produced for medical and technical applications and I expect, that major breakthroughs in chemistry and process engineering will be enabled by AM.«