Festo achieved solid financial results in fiscal year 2025. Following a 3.7% decline in turnover due to economic conditions, Festo is focusing 2026 on expanding its leadership in innovation and competitiveness. To this end, the company is continuing to further develop its structure and, with an R&D ratio of over 8%, is investing in the expansion of Seamless Automation with a comprehensive portfolio, seamless connectivity, and an intuitive digital experience.

The development of drugs is lengthy, complex and expensive. Approaches from organ-on-a-chip research promise to shorten the time to approval of new active ingredients. Together with experts from TU Darmstadt, Festo has developed an exhibit that demonstrates the automated production of such mini-organs: A bioprinter applies human cell material to a microfluidic chip, on which organ-like tissue then grows. Festo is combining two future technologies for the first time: SupraMotion and Diffusion Bonded Manifolds.

Festo is an independent family-owned company and a global player in automation technology and technical education, with headquarters in Esslingen a.N. (Germany) – with over 20,000 employees at around 250 locations worldwide, a turnover of 3.33 billion euros and an R&D rate of over 8%. As a partner in motion, Festo offers integrated and seamless pneumatic, electric and digital drive technologies across all industries – including software and AI solutions as well as customized training concepts – for 300,000 customers in over 35 industries in...

At Next-Gen Life Science Automation, Festo is researching new solutions for medical technology and laboratory automation. At Hannover Messe 2026, Festo and Fraunhofer IPA will be demonstrating the construction of a cassette for the process step of modifying cells in CAR-T cell therapy. Automation significantly reduces manufacturing times and costs, making individualized cancer therapies faster, cheaper and available to more patients.