The winners of Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, highlighting fresh sustainability initiatives, cutting-edge AI developments, ambitious pursuits of social equity, and other creative projects that are helping mould the world.

Variant3D's Loop software has earned its place as a finalist in Fast Company's 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards ‘Best World-Changing Idea North America’ category, thanks to its pioneering approach in the textiles manufacturing industry.

Loop is the first web-based CAD/CAM application for producing 3D knitted fabrics and products, standing out for its unique capability to enable users to seamlessly work across multiple file dimensions, including 3D, 2D, and a granular knit level.

The benefits are said to be profound, with 3D digital renderings playing a pivotal role in enhancing efficiency and eliminating waste throughout the entire manufacturing chain. Variant3D says its recognition in the World Changing Ideas Awards underscores its potential to drive meaningful change and establish new benchmarks for sustainable manufacturing practices worldwide.

This year’s World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 50 winners, 127 finalists, and 172 honourable mentions - with health, education, energy, and AI among the most popular categories.

A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners from a pool of more than 1300 entries across climate, social justice, wellness, politics, technology, corporate social responsibility, and more. Several new categories were added this year, including beauty and fashion, health products, health services, materials, and science and technology. The 2024 awards feature entries from across the globe, including the Republic of Korea, Brazil, and Madagascar.

Fast Company’s Spring 2024 issue (on newsstands 21 May 2024) will unveil some of the world’s most creative minds and pioneering organisations that are seeking to disrupt the status quo. The solutions cover everything from renewable energy storage and waste in the fashion industry to a building made entirely from recycled concrete and a fridge that’s solar-powered and designed to run off the grid.

Garrett Gerson, Founder and CEO of Variant3D commented: "Recognition as a finalist in Fast Company's 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards is a true honour for Variant3D. It affirms our unwavering dedication to innovation and sustainability within the textiles industry. This esteemed acknowledgment underscores the transformative impact of Loop, our revolutionary software, which is reshaping manufacturing practices and championing a more collaborative, eco-conscious future.”

Will Samosir, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Variant3D said: “We are profoundly grateful for this acknowledgement and remain steadfast in our commitment to driving positive change through our pioneering technologies."

“I was struck this year by the global sweep of the honourees,” says Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan. “It’s endlessly inspiring to see how the world is coming together to devise inventive solutions to our most challenging problems. We need ideas from everywhere, and this year’s World Changing Ideas Awards are an extraordinary encapsulation of the innovation and creativity that is so abundant around the globe.”

Variant3D aims to lead the textiles industry with hyperlocal, zero-waste, and customisable 3D knitting technology. Its revolutionary Loop 3D CAD/CAM application transforms manufacturing into a sustainable, collaborative ecosystem.

World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and bold concepts that make the world better. Judges choose winners, finalists, and honourable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to work on solving the problems that affect us all.

Fast Company is a media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

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