On 27 June, Chris Sutcliffe — director of research and development at Renishaw’s Additive Manufacturing Products Division (AMPD) — was awarded a Silver Medal by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) for his role in driving the development of metal 3-D printed implants for use in surgery.

A maximum of four RAE Silver Medals are awarded each year to recognise outstanding personal contributions to British engineering that have resulted in ‘successful market exploitation’.

Professor Sutcliffe’s medal celebrates his successful commercialisation of additive-manufacturing products as part of his work with Renishaw, the University of Liverpool, Stryker Orthopaedics and Fusion Implants Ltd.

He has been involved in additive manufacturing for over 20 years, starting at the University of Liverpool, where he worked with the first direct-metal 3-D printing machine in the UK on a variety of research projects in orthopaedics and structural lightweighting, as well as heat exchangers and chemical reactors.

Professor Sutcliffe joined Renishaw in 2011 to head up the company’s additive-manufacturing R&D activity (Renishaw remains the only UK manufacturer of metal laser powder-bed fusion AM systems and has recently launched the multi-laser RenAM 500Q series).

As well as working on AM products, a large part of his research has focused on metal 3-D printed implants for medical applications, particularly on developing porous bone-integrating implants that were successfully commercialised by Stryker Orthopaedics.

Professor Sutcliffe said: “Throughout my career, I have worked hard to commercialise additive-manufacturing technology.

“As well as AM’s benefit to the aerospace and automotive sectors, the commercialisation of AM and
associated technologies has been life-changing for those with musculoskeletal diseases.

"The award celebrates the successes of the engineers I have worked with to achieve this, and I am grateful to receive this recognition of our work.”