Outlook

This week we will look at the ecosystem built around AM. When talking about the ecosystem in the context of additive manufacturing, we mean the business ecosystem that encompasses the different types of companies that deal with additive manufacturing in some capacity.

Because of the increased flexibility and digital nature of additive manufacturing compared to traditional manufacturing methods, the following changes are taking place:

• The nature of existing companies is changing to accommodate additive manufacturing

• The relationships between the different types of companies are changing

• New types of companies are being created

These phenomena have an impact on how value is created with additive manufacturing and understanding them is necessary to develop business models.

We will now look at the examples of core and supportive players and new entrants in the field. Joining us will be successful proprietors from companies whose business models are entirely built on additive manufacturing, who have offered to give their insights in form of interviews. We will also be looking at how the ecosystem is evolving and examine distributed design and manufacturing, and how consumers can participate in the ecosystem.