International
© Christian Thieme
14.07.2023

Sustainability: Focus for the Nordic partner region at Formnext 2023

The partner country for Formnext 2023, which takes place 7 – 10 November, will be the Nordic region, comprising the countries Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Besides having many innovative companies participating at the world’s leading exhibition for AM technologies and the next generation of manufacturing, these countries will also play a significant role in the supporting events program at Formnext 2023.

At the exhibition, the partner region will be showcasing the economic potential of the Northern European AM industry as well as shining a spotlight on sustainability – with a particular focus on energy and material efficiency. The lead partner, Danish AM Hub, will be joined by the Finnish Additive Manufacturing Ecosystem (FAME) and Norwegian AM, the Additive Manufacturing Cluster, Norway.

Joining the around 660 exhibitors already registered for Formnext 2023, which looks set to be a record year for exhibitor numbers, will be around two dozen exhibitors from the Nordic countries. The Nordic contingent will be based at the Nordic pavilion, where a special showcase of exhibits of successful AM applications is also planned. As part of the program of supporting events, major companies from the partner region will be presenting inspiring AM use cases, and the Danish AM Hub will be hosting a panel on sustainability. Several delegations from the Nordic region are also planning to visit Formnext 2023 to further promote the industrial application of AM through active exchange and expansion of their networks.

Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President Formnext at event organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH: “The Nordic region represents the ideal choice of partners for this year’s event as the countries concerned are showing the world how to combine commercial viability with sustainability, and thus perfectly demonstrating how 3D Printing can play its part in establishing a responsible manufacturing industry.”

 

Diverse manufacturers, world-famous user companies

The Danish companies will showcase a wide range of innovations along the entire AM process chain, including research & development, services, materials, and post-processing solutions. The young company Create it Real has, for example, developed a specialized solution for the orthopedics industry. Denmark also has a number of well-known companies that have been using 3D Printing for many years. Global enterprises, such as Lego, Danfoss or Grundfos, for example, are key users of AM.

The Finnish AM industry has strong links with the industry and will be bringing numerous service providers (3D Formtech, 3DStep, Delva), software suppliers, polymer 3D printer manufacturers, and companies from the research & development sector to Formnext. Sweden has long boasted a successful raw materials industry, and this is also reflected in the AM world with world-leading AM material manufacturers such as Sandvik and Höganäs. There will also be Swedish exhibitors from the entire process chain, presenting solutions for research & development, software, hardware, services, and post-processing.

As part of the Nordic partner region, Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen, CEO of the Danish AM Hub, welcomed the “recognition of the skilled and innovative Danish owner-managers, designers, engineers and manufacturers, who are continually challenging and expanding the scope of AM technology to design, develop and manufacture the products of the future.” Lorenzen also noted that, over the past three years, the Danish AM Hub has focused on “how to make Denmark the most knowledgeable place in the world when it comes to the use of AM for more sustainable manufacturing.”

A background to the AM industry in the Nordic partner region will be presented exclusively in a special edition of Formnext magazine, published at the end of August. Offering an additional foretaste of the exhibition will be Formnext’s appearance at the AM Summit Copenhagen, which will be taking place on 21 September 2023.