ASTRO America and FSU InSPIRE Host Annual Tech Showcase to Advance Production-Ready Additive Manufacturing

August 14, 2026

The Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America (ASTRO America) and Florida State University’s Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, and Education (InSPIRE) hosted the 2nd Annual ASTRO | InSPIRE Tech Showcase on Wednesday, August 12, at the Emerald Grande in Destin, Florida.

The event opened with keynote remarks from Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL), along with opening remarks from leaders representing ASTRO America, FSU InSPIRE, Florida State University Research, and Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc.

“Northwest Florida has always played an outsized role in defending our nation, and now we have an opportunity to lead the next generation of American manufacturing as well,” said U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL). “The work ASTRO America, FSU InSPIRE, Triumph Gulf Coast, and our industry partners are doing is bringing cutting-edge technology out of the lab and into production right here in Northwest Florida. That means a stronger defense industrial base, more American-made technology, and new opportunities for our workforce and local economy. I’m proud to support the partnerships and investments that are making Northwest Florida a national hub for aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing.”

Neal Orringer, President of ASTRO America, pictured center, presents metal 3D-printed trophies to Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.), pictured right, and Charles W. Rigdon, Chair of Triumph Gulf Coast, pictured left, in recognition of their contributions to Northwest Florida’s aerospace and defense industry.

This year’s showcase, “Distortion Prediction & Compensation in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF),” focused on one of the most persistent barriers to scaling additive manufacturing: predicting and compensating for distortion in LPBF. While tools exist to help address distortion, the field still needs clear benchmarking to evaluate how those solutions perform across real-world applications.

The showcase brought together advanced manufacturing leaders, technical evaluators, solution providers, and industry stakeholders to review competing approaches, discuss challenge results, and explore how improved distortion prediction and compensation can help make additive manufacturing more reliable, repeatable, and production-ready.

“Congratulations to Oqton for leading the way in this year’s Tech Showcase,” said Dr. Abdalla R. Nassar, Vice President and General Manager of ASTRO South. “This competition is about more than selecting a winner. It is about identifying the tools, data, and technical confidence needed to scale additive manufacturing for critical, domestic production. We were honored to have Rep. Patronis join us to recognize each competitor’s contribution and to celebrate Northwest Florida’s emergence as a serious aerospace and defense manufacturing hub, with important support from FSU InSPIRE and Triumph Gulf Coast as well as Florida’s Great Northwest.”

Pictured left to right: Kristina Sergueeva, Corporate Development, Oqton; Steve Lokam, CEO, Oqton; Abdalla Nassar, Director and General Manager, ASTRO South, Sridharan Hariharan, VP of Sales & Customer Success, Oqton, Neal Orringer, President, ASTRO America, following the presentation of a metal 3D-printed trophy at the 2nd Annual ASTRO-InSPIRE Tech Showcase in Destin, Florida.

During the challenge, participating solution providers presented approaches designed to predict and compensate for distortion in LPBF. Technical evaluators reviewed the solutions against challenge criteria intended to help benchmark performance and inform future approaches to more predictable additive manufacturing.

Competitors also included: Ansys, Siemens, Dassault, Autodesk, and Cadence, with Oqton announced as this year’s winner.

“ASTRO America designed this challenge to separate research-stage tools from production-ready ones, using real parts of interest rather than simple test articles,” said Sridharan Hariharan, Global VP of Sales and Customer Success at Oqton. “That’s exactly the bar our customers hold us to every day. We’re proud that Oqton’s approach to distortion prediction and compensation in LPBF Inconel 718 came out on top. We’re grateful to ASTRO America and FSU InSPIRE for building the kind of rigorous, independent benchmark this industry needs, and for the opportunity to be part of it.”

Florida State University’s participation in the showcase reflects the continued growth of InSPIRE as a regional hub for aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing innovation in Northwest Florida.

“It’s a real honor to present these Tech Challenges alongside our strategic partner, ASTRO America,” said Drew Allen, Executive Director, FSU InSPIRE. “By bringing major players within aerospace and other key industries together with academia, government, and entrepreneurs we can help fast track the production of up-and-coming solutions, which can then jumpstart the upscaling of advanced manufacturing not only in our region, but nationwide. This will become even more crucial as we build out our own applied research capability in solving real industrial challenges.”

The showcase builds on ASTRO and FSU InSPIRE’s broader effort to accelerate the transition of advanced manufacturing technologies from research and demonstration into practical, production-ready applications. By focusing on distortion prediction and compensation, this year’s challenge targeted a technical problem that directly affects part accuracy, repeatability, cost, and qualification pathways.