Playbook #109: 3D Printing

The Big Picture

3D Printing is a fantastic followup to our previous playbooks on Robotics and AI because you can leverage a vision of where humanity is heading with these exciting technologies and apply it to many of the other playbooks here in CAPITALIZE.

The way we live our lives and the way things get done could look significantly different in the next decade or two, and these are some of the biggest factors driving us all into the future. None of us know exactly what it will look like and what will work or not work, however, one thing is for certain: there is significant disruption coming. And that means opportunity.

3D printing has had a fascinating journey. It was all the rage around 2010, with futurists and visionaries making big promises… but it failed to catch on in a big way - at least for consumers (for whom it was simply too early). For large companies, however, it’s already made a big impact in the past decade (which you’ll see in some of the numbers below), with a lot more exciting upside potential.

So what’s different today, and where is this going in the future?

Well, to start with, 3D printing used to only work with plastics, which was great for prototypes and toys… but wouldn’t work for the metal parts needed to really make an impact in industry.

Today, you can use metals and concrete, and innovative designers and engineers are building everything from automotive and plane parts to houses and medical devices.

4D printing (using smart material that can bend, fold, expand, or change shape when exposed to elements like light, touch, temperature, electricity, or chemicals) is on the horizon, and within the next decade we might even be able to 3D print human organs.

Like our other “futuristic” playbooks, you can go down some serious rabbit holes here. Depending on your Investor DNA, you might go all in on a specific application of this technology… or you might want to just browse and get an idea of what’s coming down the pipe. Either way, this is an exciting and fascinating issue that has big real-world implications for how we all live our daily lives.

🔢 By The Numbers

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