JEC World 2019: Innovation Awards & Composites Challenge winners

JEC Group unveils the winners of the prestigious Innovation Awards and Composite Challenge programme to the audience at JEC World 2019 in Paris

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On the second day of the world's largest composites exhibition, JEC World, two sets of winners were announced in two different ceremonies: the JEC Innovation Awards and the Composite Challenge.

JEC Innovation Awards 2019

The JEC Innovation Awards are a celebration of the fruitful cooperation between players in the composite community. For the past 15 years, the JEC Innovation Awards have brought in 1,800 companies worldwide. In total, 177 companies and 433 partners have been rewarded for their excellence in composite innovations. The Awards are based on criteria such as partner involvement in the supply chain, technicality or commercial applications of the innovations.

The ceremony was opened by Bertrand Piccard, the founder and visionary behind Solar Impulse, the first zero-fuel aircraft with perpetual autonomy. 

The jury then announced the ten composite innovation champions selected among 30 finalists, from more than a hundred entries, and the public awarded its prize. 

"JEC Group supports innovation and has created the Composites Reference Prize to reward industry champions and promote their innovations. Every year, we receive more than a hundred applications from all over the world," explains Franck Glowacz, Composites Expert at JEC Group. 

Composites Challenge 

For the second year running, the Composites Challenge programme has brought together research and industry through a competition between ten PhD students chosen for the quality of their research in the field of composites. 

"One of the roles of JEC World is to be on the lookout for tomorrow's innovations and the people who are making them happen. This goal is addressed through the second edition of the Composites Challenge, which puts ten PhD students, from all four corners of the world, in competition with each other. They all met the difficult challenge of presenting their theses in five minutes with a single slide, in front of an exclusive jury of experts. New to the 2019 edition is the selection of two winners: one by the jury and one by the public," explains Anne-Carole Barbarin, JEC Group Programs Director. 

The ceremony included an opening session on the theme of additive manufacturing, introduced by Hemant Bheda, co-founder of one of the most successful companies in the field of 3D printing: AREVO. He provided an overview of how it will shape the future of composite materials. 

Additive manufacturing now enables the design and manufacture of large parts and structures produced in series, which allows 3D printing to be quickly integrated into current manufacturing processes and unlocks the production line. 

Thanks to the great flexibility of these additive manufacturing systems, customisation in many product categories will accelerate, further reducing conventional mass production’s market share. 

Based on the ten individual presentations by PhD students, the jury selected Polette Centellas, University of Illinois, as winner of the second edition of the Composites Challenge. The subject of his thesis is: Frontal Polymerization for Rapid Composite Manufacturing. 

Through a vote held during the ceremony, the public chose Adam Smith, McGill University. His thesis is on: From Ply-cutter to Press: Aerospace Prepreg Recycling Re-Imagined! 

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