“Nature has already solved many of the engineering challenges we face today,” Fibionic co-founders

Fibionic: Fibionic was born from a simple yet powerful idea: nature has already solved many of the engineering challenges we face today, especially in lightweight design. Look closely at a dragonfly’s wing or a tree leaf, and you’ll see structural efficiency perfected: material used only where needed, nothing wasted. In nature, form follows function – and that principle is at the core of our approach. Our innovation combines this design methodology with the world’s fastest fibre placement technology, which enables the production of ultra-efficient and fully recyclable components, all with virtually zero material waste.

Fibionic was officially founded in June 2021 by Johannes Mandler and Thomas Rettenwander, who together bring deep expertise in mechatronics, fibre composites, automation and materials science. Elias Hirschbichler joined the company in 2024 as a late cofounder to help scale the company. Today, we are a powerful team of 8, based in Innsbruck, Tyrol, where our 1st fully automated production machine is now operational. This series machine achieves a cycle time of just 1 min per part, with an annual output capacity of up to 500,000 components.

How does your patented bionic fibre placement technology distinguish your solution from other players in this market segment?

Fibionic: What sets us apart is the combination of bionic design logic with a radical shift in production efficiency. Our Fibionic Fibre Placement (FFP) technology is a true differentiator. Unlike traditional composites, we align fibres along load paths, based on bionic logic – placing material only where it’s needed. We combine this approach with our patented air stream technology. This allows us to cut material usage, eliminate waste and massively reduce costs due to our fast fibre alignment.

Our system is fully automated, uses thermoplastic materials (for recyclability) and is the fastest process of its kind globally. We are able to position load path aligned fibres in milliseconds. In short: higher performance, lower cost and almost zero waste.

How can your airstream production method be described as disruptive (vs. incremental innovation) and what are its concrete implications?

Fibionic: It’s disruptive because it completely redefines the manufacturing process of lightweight composites. Using an airstream fibre deposition method, we can build entire fibre layers in just milliseconds – significantly faster than conventional textile or tape-laying methods.