3D Printing, Now, 2023, 2033, 2043... Predictions

[TeddyYan]

3D Printing, Now, 2023, 2033, 2043... Predictions

I hope to go back to this thread 10, 20, 30, and 40 years from now and see how accurate our predictions are. I will start off with my predictions of what 3D printing will eventually become. I think that many people are underestimating the true potential of this remarkable technology that is about to hit us all.

Now
Currently we are at an early stage of growth. Pretty much 2 years ago is when 3D printing really began to get the attention it deserves. Fast forward to today, and consumers can purchase 3D Printers for as little as a couple hundred bucks. Two Years ago similar printers would have cost upwards of $1000-$1500. With the help of crowdfunding, particularly Kickstarter.com, we have seen an explosion of interest in 3d Printing in General. Look at Thingiverse.com for example, a 3D Model sharing website. It has gone from the 80,000th top website in the world 2 years ago, to the 10,000th top website in the world today, according to Alexa.com:


3D Printing in 2023
In just 10 years the 3D Printing market will have changed so much, many of us likely won't recognize it. Heck, a recent report from Gartner estimated that in just 3 years the market will grow by a factor of 20 times, each year growing faster than the previous. If we extrapolate the estimates from Gartner, we will see an estimated 3000X increase in the consumer 3D Printing market from where we are at today. That's true exponential growth for you. That means that the current consumer 3D printing market of about $250 million a year now will be worth $750 Billion by 2023. That's a major prediction to make, but if technology progresses like it has been, nearly everyone will have some sort of 3D printing machine in their home/office in the US, with similar penetration around the globe in the developed economies. A 3D printer in 2023 will likely be able to print using multiple materials, metals, wood, plastics, electronic circuits, organic materials, etc, all confined to one simple machine. Yes, you would easily be able to print out a duplicate of your 3D Printer if laws allow it.

3D Printing in 2033
This is where things could become scary. The manufacturing world would have been turned upside down years prior to now, and the global economy will look extremely different than we are used to today. It will be an information driven economy, where only raw materials are purchased as needed (Most materials will be able to get recycled). Throw a plastic water bottle in the machine to use as plastic filament, or throw a few twigs in for wood filament. Need to print out a new bike frame? Just throw in some scrap metal you pick up at the junk yard. Profits will be made in this economy mostly via patents/copyrights, and the electronic transfer of 3D models for whatever it is you are printing out. The speeds of these printers will be staggering, and it will usher in a tricky legal situation as most people will be able to snap a few pictures of an item and print out an exact copy of it within minutes, using just scraps they have around the house. It will be interesting to see if the sluggish political systems can keep up with the exponential growth of technology. In the meantime healthcare has changed dramatically as well, with the help of 3D human tissue printers. In 2013, companies like Organova, began to perfect the printing of cells. It took another decade and a half to really hit it's stride, but soon after, hundreds of thousands of lives would be saved annually. Hearts, Livers, Lungs, and Kidneys are regularly printed, replacing the need to organ donors.

3D Printing in 2043
It's now been 30 years since 3D Printing has really begun to take off. The world has changed more in the last 30 years than it has in the prior 800 years combined. 3D Printers have revolutionized just about everything in our lives, however that's not the only technology which has made the world alien to anyone living in 2013. Computers are millions of times faster, there are all sorts of new man made materials out there, and people are living well past 150 years due to an explosion of knowledge around genomics, and nanomedicine. 3D Printers are beginning to get so precise that they are bordering on molecular manufacturing machines. These are machines which can build practically any item from the ground up atom by atom. In the wrong hands these machines can be extremely dangerous, but hopefully additional technologies are able to counter these risks somewhat.

Please contribute to this thread with your thoughts, predictions and opinions!

[joealarson]

I think you've got a rather high attitude of 3D printing. most people do. Heck we're on a board called "3DPrint Board."I don't think it's going to matter much for that long.

Aaaaand this is not how I want to introduce myself.

Thing is in... eh... 5 years (I would have said 10, but man things are moving fast) I see 3D printing becoming like the home CNC machines or a table saw or drill press, IE a tool. Most people now don't think about it as a tool, they think about it as an end unto itself. And that's where we're at right now. But when someone makes them so cheap that my Mother can't see a reason not to get one, and so utilitarian that she doesn't need to know what we know to print with it. That means the slicer needs to be forgotten and practically useless. And when that happens all your predictions go out the window because no one will talk about 3D printing as it's own thing. They'll be talking about the designs and things they can make. They'll be talking about where they can buy and download the useful and fun things to print on it. They'll be talking about the utilities they can use to make custom things. That's where the money will be. The printer themselves will become utility to that end.

[urbanmyth]

Great write up. I agree that it is pretty right on. I might even be apt to say that by 2043 we will be even further along.

[3dman]

I hope this forum is still here in 10, 20 and 30 years so we can come back and read all these comments and predictions. I think the 10 year prediction is likely right. After that there are so many variable that it's impossible to say where things will lead 20 or 30 years out in the 3D Print industry.

[DrLuigi]

I hope this forum is still here in 10, 20 and 30 years so we can come back and read all these comments and predictions. I think the 10 year prediction is likely right. After that there are so many variable that it's impossible to say where things will lead 20 or 30 years out in the 3D Print industry.

Ye indeed,

10 years and you could predict a little what people could have done with 3D printers and what place it will take in our world,

But 20-30 lol, Thats just a joke even to start about it :P
People thought in 20th century that we would have flying cars and such in 2000, Did it happen?! :P

Oh well

[Larry]

So true, and if you told someone in 1970 that in 30 years people will have all the information in the word at their fingertips, that they could ask their phone things like "How much caffeine is in Green tea" and a voice will give you the exact answer, they would be amazed. In 20-30 years there will be amazing things in this world, and a lot will be around 3D Printing. Having said this, we are in an exponential curve with technological progress, meaning the speed of progress is also increasing. The next 10 years will likely see innovation greater than the previous 50 in my opinion. Exciting times indeed!

[DTaylor]

How can you have a prediction of the future of 3D printing, extending to 2043, and not discuss Star Trek style Replicators? Preposterous!

Just kidding.

I feel that I am simultaneously a dreamer and a realist. I can see the realism in a dreamy prediction such as this.

This is a very insightful read. Thanks for putting it up!

Drew
https://3Dagogo.com

[hpearson]

Can people please do this survey for our class and share the survey as well. We are trying to get at least 100 response. One link is for people who have a 3D printer and the other is for people who don't have a 3D printer.
Have Printer https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LN3GZ8D
Don't have printer https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LYB69B6
make sure to click on the correct link.

[amberperez476]

As I have been through Allied Market Research, they have predicted that, the global 3D printing market is in the progressive phase of its life cycle and was valued $2.3 billion in 2013 and is anticipated to reach $8.6 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 20.6%.

[MechaBits]

in 2050 someone will build a fungal based nanomite replicator without a nanomite containment shield(as that was already patented in 2049) as a result the planet is reduced to slime by 2060.