Formlabs CEO Max Lobovsky receives AMUG Innovators Award for contributions to additive manufacturing

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has presented Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs, with this year’s Innovators Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of additive manufacturing through technical and entrepreneurial achievements.

Formlabs was founded in 2011 by Lobovsky together with David Cranor and Natan Linder – at that time still as a project by MIT students. The goal was to make stereolithography (SLA) accessible to a wider audience. With the launch of the Form 1 in 2012, the company brought the first affordable, professional SLA 3D printer to market. Since then, Formlabs has grown to become one of the largest providers of professional SLA and SLS systems. Today, the company employs over 700 people at ten locations worldwide and has sold more than 130,000 printers.

AMUG President Shannon VanDeren emphasized that Lobovsky and his team recognized a gap in the market early on: a professional but affordable 3D printer for design studios, engineers, and research institutions. The consistent implementation of this idea has significantly accelerated the spread of additive technologies.

Lobovsky will receive the award at the AMUG Conference 2026 in Reno, Nevada. In a conversation on the main stage, he will share insights into his experiences with product development and the establishment of Formlabs. Previous award winners include industry pioneers such as Chuck Hull (3D Systems), Scott Crump (Stratasys), and Fried Vancraen (Materialise).

Lobovsky has been committed to knowledge transfer between research and industry for many years. While studying at the MIT Media Lab, he worked on concepts for open hardware and rapid prototyping systems. This experience flowed directly into the development of the first Formlabs printers.

With the Innovators Award, AMUG is not only recognizing an entrepreneurial success story, but also Lobovsky’s lasting influence on the professionalization of desktop 3D printing.