Dec 24, 2015 | By Alec
With the first of January 2016 already in sight, research analysists everywhere are hard at work compiling the results for 2015 and already looking ahead at what is to come. While 3D printing as a whole is looking good in most of those predictions, it’s more of a mixed story for individual companies due to increasing competition and market volatility. Only yesterday, Gartner predicted that Stratasys will face a few difficulties in the year to come, but today Lux Research highlights metal 3D printing specialists Norsk Titanium as one of the best innovators of the past year.
This very impressive result was part of the Top 10 innovative companies of 2015, which Lux Research just shared. And they should know what they’re talking about, as Lux Research has been analyzing and profiling a massive 1,189 different companies from twenty different fields of emerging technologies – including 3D printing. “As the year end approaches, we polled the analyst team to select the top 10 companies we covered in 2015 that are poised to make a significant impact on their target industries. These companies may be targets for partnership, investment, or acquisition, but their success also points to new growth areas and business opportunities that clients can capitalize on,” Lux says of their findings.
Just like all companies listed, Lux awarded each a ‘Lux Take’ – a short assessment of how they are doing, ranging from “Strong Caution” to “Strong Positive.” This means that even some very promising companies received a “Wait and See” listing, as it’s still too early to tell how they will do. But the people of Norsk Titanium can be very pleased with the results, as their titanium 3D printing innovations earned them an assessment of “Positive”.
Why and do they deserve it? They most certainly do, because Norsk Titanium has had significant successes with their innovative titanium 3D printing process over the past year, having succeeded in decreasing titanium manufacturing costs by up to 70 percent, in comparison to traditional manufacturing options. Using their patented DMD (Direct Metal Deposition) additive manufacturing technology and proprietary plasma arc Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) 3D printing technology, they have caught the eye of a wide range of industries, from aerospace, defense, autosport to oceanic sectors. Demand is soaring for their cost effective, safety-critical and structurally sound 3D printed titanium parts, which are also produced at very high speeds.
This excellent listing in the top ten of the best innovators of the past year is thus hardly surprising, in part because their titanium parts have done well in all tests for these demanding sectors. Just earlier this week, they were awarded the Technology Readiness Level Eight (TRL 8), after concluding a multi-year test plan coordinated through the Federal Aviation Administration and conducted by Westmoreland Mechanical Testing & Research Inc. The high-scoring results, taken from tests on 1,300 3D printed aircraft samples, have proven that Norsk’s proprietary Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) 3D printed titanium parts meet the most demanding aerospace requirements. 2015, in short, was an excellent year for Norsk Titanium, but only looks like the tip of their iceberg.
The full list of Lux Research's Top 10 Innovative Companies From 2015:
1. NeuroSky (Positive - BioElectonics; Sensors) -- NeuroSky develops a number of bioelectrical signal detection and processing systems, most notably its electroencephalography (EEG) sensors that have enabled mind-reading brain-computer interface devices like Uncle Milton's Star Wars Force Trainer.
2. Organica Water (Positive - Water) -- In addition to providing significant reductions in energy consumption, sludge production, and overall footprint for wastewater treatment, Organica builds low-cost greenhouses around its treatment plants to reduce odor, allowing it to locate plants closer to wastewater sources and enabling cost-effective reuse within cities.
3. PFP Cybersecurity (Strong Positive - Connected Objects and Platforms) -- PFP uses a physics-based approach to detecting cyber threats by analyzing the electrical patterns of processors, ideal for securing for Internet of Things (IoT) devices that can't support modern security software or are limited by memory or compute constraints.
4. Norsk Titanium (Positive - Advanced Materials) -- 3D printing is best known for producing customized but pricey plastic pieces -- Norsk's plasma arc deposition allows it to 3D-print parts from titanium that are up to 70% cheaper than those made via conventional machining methods, due to greater material utilization.
5. Nutrigenomix (Positive - Food & Nutrition) -- Offering genetic testing to provide individualized recommendations on seven specific dietary components, Nutrigenomix is a step in the right direction for personalized nutrition.
6. Fulcrum BioEnergy (Positive - Alternative Fuels) -- Biojet fuel and renewable diesel are going to be major plays in 2016 and Fulcrum is well positioned to make both fuels from municipal solid waste (MSW) -- it has strong partnerships along its entire value chain, and is the only Fischer-Tropsch biojet process developer with proven production at some scale.
7. Zerlux (Positive - Exploration and Production) -- The use of lasers in the oil and gas industry isn't widely known, but Hungarian player Zerlux is a leader, with high-powered lasers for well stimulation, hard-scale removal, and subsea pipeline remediation.
8. Hillcrest Labs (Positive - Sensors) -- As the number of sensors in products from cars to mobile phones continues to grow, sensor fusion -- integrating the interpretation of data from different sensors -- is becoming more critical; strategic relationships with Bosch, Atmel, and ARM position Hillcrest to be a dominant player in this market.
9. ENS Europe (Wait and See - Intelligent Buildings, Sustainable Building Materials) -- More efficient electrostatic filters from ENS Europe can help clean indoor air, much like a HEPA filter does, but the technology has the potential to scale up to clean smog and address other city-wide air quality issues.
10. AgDNA (Positive - Agro Innovation) -- Finding successful business models for precision agriculture has been challenging, but AgDNA has been able to get traction licensing its technology -- which integrates data from existing equipment into a decision-support system for growers -- to OEMs like John Deere.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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Dear Hilde, dear Pedro, Congratulation! Best regards Thomas
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