Hamburg industrializes Additive Manufacturing

Hamburg is the gateway to the world and Germany’s most economically powerful industrial city. Where else, if not here, should a network for innovations arise that helps industry gain relevance and international competitiveness?

The answer is provided by the Hamburg Master Plan for Industry 2023. In the field of action »Innovation and Digitalization« the city's authors set the goal of promoting the use of new technologies in industrial production, advancing digitalization in companies and Hamburg's administration, and strengthening the bidirectional transfer between business and science as well as exchange with other networks.

Plans began immediately: Fraunhofer IAPT, the 3D-Druck Nord Netzwerk, the Hamburg Industrial Association (IVH), the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Crafts launched an initiative. In November 2024, together with Hamburg-based companies and institutions from politics and research, they founded the association »Industrialized Additive Manufacturing Hub Hamburg (IAMHH e.V.)«. The association receives strong support and financial backing from the the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (BWI) and the Ministry of Science, Research, Equality, and Districts (BWFGB) of the City of Hamburg.

The goal: to establish additive manufacturing as a disruptive technology across all industries and to address pressing societal challenges.

The list of founding members underscores the significance of the association and its objectives for research and industry. These include: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Fehrmann Materials X GmbH, Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research e.V. (FhG), the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg through the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), Nikon SLM Solutions AG, Siemens AG, Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG, the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), and Zellerfeld R&D GmbH.

As the initiator, driver and founding member of the »Industrialized Additive Manufacturing Hub Hamburg (IAMHH e.V.)«, the Fraunhofer IAPT has Prof. Dr. Ingomar Kelbassa as Chairman of the Board of the newly founded association. Together with Mahendran Reddy, Senior Vice President Global Ecosystems at Fehrmann Materials X GmbH, and Lennard Stoever, CFO of Zellerfeld R&D GmbH, Prof. Dr. Ingomar Kelbassa, Director of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Production Technologies IAPT and Director of the Institute for Industrialization of Smart Materials ISM at TUHH, will lead the activities of IAMHH e.V.

The IAMHH e.V. network comprises around 100 organizations from industry and research. Most of them have already signed a declaration of intent. Together, IAMHH e.V. and its partners address the challenges facing the industrial use of additive production. The focus is on joint projects to develop and test new technologies before they are launched on the market. The measures are in the pre-competitive TRL (Technology Readiness Level) range of 3 to 6. Together, the partners research, develop and validate their ideas before they can be industrialized.