Just like computers send 2D documents to traditional printers, 3D printers receive 3D models and create real 3D objects. 3D printers deposit materials such as plastics, rubber, and metal layer-by-layer to produce unique items.
Capture, Design Print! If you can snap a photo, you can 3D-print. New materials, low-cost printers, simple design tools, and new marketplaces let you make your very own jewelry, toys, shoes, and much more.
With a current market size of $1.3 billion, the 3D printing industry is set to explode to $3.1 billion by 2016, according to industry consulting firm Wohlers Associates.
- How are entrepreneurs using 3D printing to build profitable businesses?
- Will the entrepreneurial opportunities be in designing, printing, materials, or tools?
- Will consumers print at home or use cloud-based services?
- Will 3D printing be a niche market or will it disrupt traditional manufacturing with personalized production?
Come and find out the answers to these and many more questions at the next MIT/Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB) event moderated by Dale Dougherty, Co-Founder of O’Reilly Media and Editor and Publisher of MAKE Magazine. Click here to register.
When:
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
6:00 – 7:00pm Networking and Refreshments
7:00 – 8:30pm Panel Discussion and Q&A
What happens when we add the power of Social/Mobile and always-on personal devices to the evolving health markets?
The controversial The Pirate Bay known for making copyright material available launched a new category: “Physibles”. Alongside the usual categories like music, films and ebooks, the site now offers digital objects that can be created with a 3D printer.
New open compute platforms are coming, with profound implications for devices with a screen and the companies that make them. Leveraging the Smartphone ecosystem and Moore’s Law, entrepreneurs are creating a new class of devices. These devices, built as general purpose compute platforms, are cheap enough and small enough to disrupt legacy closed, single function devices.
Any technology that brings convenience, also faces concerns over security. Warning calls about computer viruses from email and the internet are now disregarded as constant but insignificant problems. Cyber Attacks are escalating from large-scale theft and disruption of computer operations, to more lethal attacks that destroy systems and physical equipment—according to the head of the US Cyber Command. The security firm, McAfee, estimates that cyber attacks cost corporations and individuals over $1 trillion globally every year.
Augmented-Reality holds the promise of merging the physical world with information, but the ‘killer app’ remains elusive. Today, the rise of the smartphone and tablet – with powerful 3D, 4G, and high-res cameras – combined with significant advances in computer-vision, are finally unleashing the full power of AR. Technology leaders such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia, are targeting AR’s disruptive potential on mobile advertising, gaming, and education, by heavily investing in next-gen AR platforms.
With reduced government funding for space programs, the outlook is shifting away from traditional space organizations over to the funding of private entrepreneurs. The coming years are projected to see a dramatic growth in technological innovations and new business models – only paralleled by the Internet growth in the 1990s – and universal access to space.
This is the first of a series of ten articles describing technology-driven business trends reshaping business strategy across all industries.