ABSTRACT
Industry consultants T. Wohlers Associates foresee the worldwide market for 3D printing products and services growing to US$10.8 billion by 2021 and driving economic growth. Industry consultants Gartner are more cautious in their foresight, noting a wide degree of hype with many hurdles to mass adoption by consumers and producers. Architects, industrial engineers, designers and other users requiring models for testing and bringing concept-to-prototype now use 3D printers every day. When early forms of 3D printing, known as 'stereolithography apparatus', became available in the mid-1980s, there was already speculation that it would be a game-changer for production systems. A visitor to the London 3D Print Show will realize that the major interests in 3D printing involve rapid prototyping either through bureaus or desktop 3D printers. Many experts are examining both the wider implications of 3D printing for economies and societies and how the social world itself will structure the consequences of 3D printing.
