What does a company working in an industry using plaster casting and traditional manual manufacturing have in common with companies such as Apple, Audi, LG, Philips, Ferrari, or Porsche? Like them, 8sole’s designers have been recognized for their contribution through one of the world’s most prestigious design awards. 8sole's cutting-edge 3D printed custom foot orthotics won a Red Dot Award for an outstanding product quality design.

Red dot ranks among the world’s largest design competitions and has been held for over 60 years. From more than 5500 applications from 55 countries the jury chooses only the best to be awarded. In addition to attention to quality of design, jury experts assess the innovativeness of the product and its potential to impact specific segments of healthcare globally.

8sole’s goal is to bring the next generation of foot orthotics to patients around the world, offering much higher comfort, functionality, better user experience and biomechanics control.

“Standard custom-made foot orthotics are often bulky, uncomfortable and does not fit the patient too well. This is due to the limits of the manufacturing technology commonly used in our industry. That’s why we have decided to use 3D printing, which gives us the freedom and opportunity to manufacture nearly anything. Also we are able to perfectly fit ” says Tomas Bouma, lead designer of 8sole and winner of the Red Dot Award.

Invent Medical uses advanced technologies such as 3D scanning, 3D printing, algorithms, and artificial intelligence to manufacture its devices. “We’d been having the vision of 3D printed orthotic and prosthetic devices for a while, but it was only after the arrival of the 3D printer by HP that we finally found a strong manufacturing partner who offered us high quality and fast printing at reasonable prices. With this technology, we are able to fulfil our ambition – to become the global technological leader in the field of custom-made orthotics and prosthetics.” concludes company’s CEO - Dr. Jiri Rosicky.