Siemens, Digital Trends, and Future Shape confirmed as judges for the Protolabs Network Student Innovation Grant 2020

Hosted since 2017, the Protolabs Network Student Innovation Grant aims to empower talented engineering students to create revolutionary products that will solve real-life problems in their respective fields. As the final prize, the winners will take away $1,000 in grant funding and get the chance to turn their project into a real-life product.

Applications for the grant are currently open and will be available up until June 28th, 2020, 23:59 (CEST).

To help decide on the winners, we’re excited to announce this year’s world-class judging panel.

The 2020 student grant judges are:

• Tony Fadell - iPod inventor, iPhone co-inventor, Nest founder and Future Shape principal
• Ole Geisen - Head of Engineering Services for Additive Manufacturing at Siemens
• Luke Dormehl - Emerging Tech Writer at Digital Trends
• Brian Garret - Co-founder & CPO at Protolabs Network

Get to know our judges

Tony Fadell

Many people may recognize him from the film General Magic, Tony Fadell is an investor and entrepreneur who has had more than 30 years of experience founding companies and designing products. One of his most prominent works was the invention of the iPod, which all started back in 2001 when Tony first joined Apple’s iPod division as the SVP. There, he led the team that developed the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first 3 iterations of the iPhone.

In 2010, Tony Fadell founded Nest Labs with former Apple colleague, Matt Rogers. Today, he is the principal at Future Shape, a global investment and advisory firm that focuses on coaching engineers and scientists working on foundational deep technologies to bring their tech out of the lab and into our lives.

Ole Geisen

Based in Berlin, Germany, Ole Geisen currently works as the Head of Engineering Services for Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Gas and Power. He began his career with Siemens back in 2012, and since then has taken on various project management roles that led to his current position within the company.

Starting as a Sub Project Manager for combustion prototypes, Ole Geisen later on fulfilled the role of a Project Manager for gas turbine prototypes. From 2014 to 2017, he was responsible for public research programs on Additive Manufacturing.

He was granted over 40 patents, of which more than 30 are on additive manufacturing

Next to his current job, Ole Geisen is a PhD researcher at RWTH Aachen University, specializing in the industrialization of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology.

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a technology journalist and keynote speaker. He is the author of several books, including The Formula and Thinking Machines: The Quest For Artificial Intelligence and Where It’s Taking Us Next.

His writing has been featured in Digital Trends, Wired, The Guardian, Fast Company, and other publications. He is also a stakeholder in an EU initiative investigating the ethical regulation of smart technologies.

Brian Garret

With a background in product design Brian Garret has been involved in 3D Printing since 2003.

He graduated from Eindhoven University of Technology on mass-customization through additive manufacturing in 2009. Brian continued to work on 3D printing as a product engineer at 3D Systems, and as a designer for the award winning design agency Freedom Of Creation.

Seeing a big future in Distributed Manufacturing through 3D printing, Brian decided to co-found Protolabs Network in 2013. As Protolabs Network’s Chief Product Officer, Brian is responsible for pioneering the world’s most advanced distributed manufacturing network.