The STARTS Prize is awarded by the European Union for successful collaborations between science, technology, and the arts. In 2018, the Grand Prize in the category Innovative Collaboration goes to Dutch company MX3D and Dutch design studio Joris Laarman Lab , who collaborated to manufacture the world’s first fully-functional steel bridge using a 3D printer in a proprietary process. The 4.5-ton, organically curved stainless steel bridge was printed in six months and is set to span Amsterdam’s oldest canal, Oudezijds Achterburgwal. “With their world-first 3D-printed bridge, MX3D and Joris Laarman Lab have proven that their jointly developed MX3D process makes it possible to print large, beautiful, and intelligently designed objects and structures in metal,” wrote the jury.

The prestigious STARTS Prize, with €40,000 in prize money, was presented at Ars Electronica in Linz on September 7. Part of the pedestrian bridge was exhibited there at the festival.