What does 3D printing technology mean for social enterprise?

Social enterprise is constantly re-inventing business, delivering social investment across the world through numerous innovative ideas. Now, with the help of a revolutionary technology, social enterprise could broach yet more boundaries. Three dimensional (3D) printing is a growing science that is making big waves across the technology blogs. Business for this technology is also growing. With enterprises such as Makerbot you can purchase your own mini 3D printer to have on your desk at home. With Thingiverse you can swap 3D designs, copy other people's ideas and modify them to improve upon them. What does this have to do with social enterprise though? Well, unlike 3D graphics, which is simply for experiential use (computer games, films, simulators etc.) 3D printing actually makes real stuff. Stuff, that can be used in real life, answering real life needs.

Let's begin with what 3d printing is. For the uninitiated, a 3D printer uses an additive manufacturing process to build up objects layer by layer. What this means is that an object is 'printed' by the machine laying down layers of material until a whole object is formed. Materials that can be used for printing include plastics, glass, alumide and steel and the list is growing as the technology develops. Of course as the technology evolves an ever-increasing number of products can be printed.

Why is this significant? And why specifically for social enterprise? Well, suddenly objects that previously needed large investment and expensive tooling to be produced can be prototyped and made at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time. Moreover, products can be tweaked to meet the needs of individuals. An area where the potential of the technology for social investment is immediately obvious is the prosthetics industry. Losing a limb can be devastating, especially in developing countries where affordable solutions can be unsatisfactory. Usually it is expensive and impractical to create original and individual designs; thus prosthetic limbs can often take on a "one size fits all" approach and the limb developed for an individual may be entirely different to what the person originally had. However 3D printing technology makes complex design and production efficient and affordable.

The average commercial 3d printer can cost over $15,000 - a big investment by anyone's standard. However an exciting development in 3d printing technology a self-replicating 3d printer developed by Dr Adrian Bowyer, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. His 'RepRap' project is a desktop 3D printer capable of self-replication - one that anyone can build given time and materials. It also means that - if you've got a RepRap you can print another RepRap for a friend. Much of the new wave of 3D printing development is opensource meaning that anyone in the world can copy designs and make innovations in this area. It seems that much of the 3D printing community have a real vision for this as a social technology and potential social enterprise. Dr Adrian Bowyer says:

"One of the things about making stuff is that you need a lot of capital to make almost anything - it could cost thousands or millions of pounds to set up a screwdriver factory, for example - but a printer like this allows you to make them for a couple of hundred pounds. A small community could start putting a foot on the first rung of the manufacturing ladder and the ability to start manufacturing with low capital costs brings considerable benefits to the world's poorest people."

Photo credit: Tony Buser