The Houskapreis, founded by B&C Private Foundation, is the largest private research funding award in Austria. Ten out of 97 submitted projects were nominated by a panel of experts for the Houskapreis 2019. Among them is Cubicure, with its own developed and patented Hot Lithography technology, which has been voted for the 2nd place in the category "Research & Development in SMEs".
For the 14th time, the most prestigious research trophy in Austria was awarded. Business-related, Austrian research projects were honored on Thursday, May 9th, 2019 during a gala in the voestalpine Stahlwelt in Linz, Upper Austria, with the Houskapreis. In the category "Research & development in SMEs" Cubicure reached the 2nd place, which is endowed with € 60,000.
Cubicure is a start-up with background at Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien) with more than 20 employees and headquarters in Vienna. For building up the company successfully, Dr. Robert Gmeiner, co-founder and managing director, has already been awarded with the Science2Business Award of the Rudolf Sallinger Fund in 2015, the MERCUR Award of the Vienna Economic Chamber in 2016 and the GEWINN Young Entrepreneurs Award in the Export category in 2018.
The future of 3D printing
"Hot Lithography is a key technology for the future of additive manufacturing. Thus, 3D printing is now ready for industrial production. Our Hot Lithography approach, based on stereolithography (SLA), and our tailored material development enable the production of polymer components in unprecedented quality and provide the industry with a completely new manufacturing tool. This award confirms our years of effort in research and development," enthuses Dr. Christian Gorsche, Project Manager and Head of Material Development at Cubicure.
In the polymer industries 3D printing technologies have so far been used primarily in rapid prototyping. However, for industrial use it is imperative to provide parts of excellent geometric quality combined with an outstanding high throughput and reliable thermomechanical properties. For the first time, highly viscous materials can be processed in lithography-based 3D printing using the Hot Lithography approach. The results are extremely precise polymer parts with excellent surface quality, high strength and heat resistance.
Hot Lithography enables new applications and tools, especially in the aerospace and automotive sector as well as in other engineering fields. New materials for extreme process environments, such as Cubicure ThermoBlast, now provide opportunities for additively manufactured parts for the electronics industry as well. Current research activities also deal with the sustainability and biocompatibility of usable polymer components.