In a recently convened panel moderated by CNET’s Rich Brown, industry experts Scott Summit, Avi Reichental, and Alice Taylor forecast that the future of 3D printing is quite bright.
During the three part panel, Reichental pointed out the numerous places that 3D printed parts are appearing. From F-18s to hearing aids, companies are adopting the technology as a real manufacturing solution.
Taylor also added that because of 3D Printing, people who want to start their own companies can do so without a massive capital investment. High quality products can be created in limited production runs without driving up the cost of each individual unit.
After the upbeat forecasting part of the panel, the experts turned their attention to the issue of intellectual property (IP) and 3D printing. Taylor made the salient point that, “I live by the ethos of (publisher) Tim O'Reilly, any creative output author needs to fear obscurity more than piracy. If people are pirating your product, it means you're popular."
In the end, the group mostly agreed that companies have little to fear from 3D printing when it comes to IP. The real worry for traditional manufactures lies in Asia where goods are copied quickly and cheaply, and little oversight is in place to restrict outright IP theft.
The final topic that the panel took up was the possible dangers that 3D printing introduces to the world. Of course, the real danger inherent in 3D printing is its ability to create nearly anything you can imagine, whether that object is safe or not. This best manifests itself in Cody Wilson’s Defense Distributed project with an aim is to create a 3D printed gun.
In the end though, 3D printing brings many more positives to life than it does negatives, and as such, its future is bright indeed.
Image Courtesy of SxSW