Materials producer UBQ Materials has been named the winner in the Speculative Design category at the 24th annual SXSW Innovation Awards, the company has announced. The awards ceremony took place Monday at the Austin Convention Center during the ongoing South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals.
The SXSW Innovation Awards recognise and celebrate the most exciting tech developments in the connected world. This year, the organisers again received several hundred submissions, each of which was graded on four criteria: creativity, form, function and overall experience. After making it to the finalist round, UBQ was then selected as the winning entry in the Speculative Design category, which looks at design solutions that address the challenges, opportunities, and possibilities of the future. Other finalists in the category included Biometric Ignited Solo Blade from SOLO Secure; Coldsnap’s Flash Freeze Premium Ice Cream On-Demand; Katalyst Training System by Katalyst Interactive, Inc; and XEDEC Tri-Screen 2, by Xebec. The top honour went to UBQ for its novel waste-based 3D filament made with UBQ material and developed in partnership with Plastics App, a leading R&D company in tailor-made applicative innovation for polymers and plastics. The filament offers a new sustainable option in the additive manufacturing space by enabling 3D printing with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
“3D printing enables manufacturers across industries the option to design complex products with near immediate customizations that otherwise might be impossible to produce using conventional manufacturing methods,” said Tato Bigio, Co-CEO and Co-founder of UBQ Materials. “The use of UBQ in the printing filament offers manufacturers the ability to gain the benefits of 3D printing, while capitalizing on the reduced carbon footprint enabled by UBQ. With this innovation, 3D printing may become the most environmentally conscious means of production available.”
UBQ Materials converts unsorted landfill-destined waste, including all organics, into a fully recyclable thermoplastic that substitutes oil-based resins for manufacturing. With the UBQ-based 3D filaments, manufacturers can take full advantage of the flexibility and cost-efficiency of 3D printing, while maintaining a low-carbon footprint for eco-conscious production.