InkSpire 3D, a KAUST spin-off headed by Professor Tadd Truscott, has received the inaugural Expo Innovation Award at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The award, created by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute (GISPRI), was presented in Nagoya in front of more than 20,000 people. On stage, Khadija Shirazi, Head of Business Development and R&D at InkSpire 3D, accepted the prize together with Adel Alfayez, Deputy Director of the Saudi Pavilion.

The recognition highlights the company’s work in 3D-printing coral bases using calcium carbonate, a technology built on two KAUST patents and presented at the Saudi Pavilion curated by the Ministry of Culture.

As Expo 2025 enters its final month, the team is already looking ahead: they are working on contracts with several Japanese partners and preparing to outplant their printed coral bases in Okinawa in collaboration with the University of the Ryukyus and Kansai University.

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