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On July 7, the Composites United e.V. (CU) Leading-Edge Cluster,  (Augsburg, Germany), celebrated its 10th anniversary at the Augsburg Technology Center. Numerous representatives took part in the event to pay tribute to the cluster, where MAI Carbon thanked its members, reviewed the past 10 years and its approach toward the future — including continued emphasis of the importance of lightweight composite construction in the future — and elected a new board.

MAI Carbon was created in 2012 as part of the Leading-Edge Cluster funding of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is still funded today by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. Through its intensive activities in the field of research and development (R&D), MAI Carbon and its members have reportedly succeeded in developing the region into a globally visible innovation driver in the field of fiber-reinforced composite construction.

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“Bavaria’s Leading-Edge Cluster MAI Carbon stands for the impressive success story of top innovation from Bavaria,” Dr. Fabian Mehring, parliamentary managing director of the Freie Wähler parliamentary group, says. “In close cooperation between business, research and politics, it has been successfully established under the umbrella of the cluster to establish a world-leading innovation hub. In the course of illustrating the large-scale capability of CFRP, carbon fiber-reinforced plastics have become one of the most important material groups of the 21st century.”

In addition to presentations by Liane Horst, head of the Materials Innovations Unit of the BMBF and Werner Loscheider, head of Unit for Construction, Lightweight Construction/New Materials at BMWI, the event was rounded off with two keynote speeches.

Together, Hanno Pfitzer and Thomas Hogger from the BMW Group (Munich, Germany) presented the results of the MAI Skeleton project (see “3D printing and AFP join forces in automotive demonstrator”). In MAI Skelett, a new manufacturing process for the production of CFRP components in skeletal construction was developed and tested (using the example of a so-called skeleton design). Through the project, it has been shown that this construction method is more cost effective with short cycle times, and enables the use of recycled materials. Corresponding manufactured components are in series production, according to Pfitzer and Hogger.

The second keynote was held by Hannes Aigner, the world champion single-kayak winner, and described various stages of his life. According to Aigner, nowadays, it is impossible to imagine life without carbon fiber, as the weight savings and the gain in flexibility are said to be important for athletes.

MAI Carbon managing director Sven Blanck ended the official part of the anniversary celebration with a future outlook. “More than 70% process cost reduction for specific components, cycle times under 90 seconds and an open and transparent cluster culture are just a few milestones, that MAI Carbon has been able to achieve in the last 10 years,” Blanck noted at the event. “We can be very proud of what we have achieved and are full of anticipation for the challenges and tasks ahead.”

MAI Carbon’s General Assembly also presented its core work the past few years in the areas of marketing and public relations, networking, research and development, internationalization and education. The educational project, , which was launched in mid-2021 and aims to build up an agile education and personnel network, was noted in particular.

Prof. Klaus Drechsler, spokesman of the executive committee of Composites United e.V.), also announced the election results for the new MAI Carbon Board of Directors by the MAI Carbon members, including:

• Jan-Christoph Arent, Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH
• Markus Feiler, co-founder of LEEN aerospace GmbH
• Ralph Hufschmied, CEO of Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme
• Dr. Joachim Starke, inno-focus digital GmbH
• Swen Zaremba, TUM chair of carbon composites

The Executive Board will take over the substantive and strategic leadership of the Leading-Edge Cluster MAI Carbon for the next two years.