Could 3D printing keep the UK at the forefront of innovation during economic uncertainty?

Sensor City's Dan Watson on risk, creativity and 3D printing.

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The UK is renowned as a global innovator. As the world's first industrialised nation;  innovation, creativity, and – to an extent – risk, have all played a part in some of the UK's greatest achievements. 

But have we reached a tipping point where UK creativity is in danger of being stifled as a result of increasing trends towards risk aversion in the innovation ecosystem? What's more, is it now harder to find the commercial backing to get truly innovative ideas off the ground? And what role will the 3D printing industry have in facilitating economic growth in the UK in the face of an increasingly conservative business environment?

The pacing problem and the impact on innovation

Regulation is simply necessary for the greater good. Take the 3D printing industry as a prime example. Without industry regulations ensuring product safety and quality, 3D printed medical devices could pose serious threats to public safety. The same can be said for food and any number of other industries. Product liability and regulation are certainly vital in ensuring innovation remains ethical and safe and those bringing products and services to market remain responsible and accountable.  

However, are these so-called safety nets starting to work against the creative process? Technology is getting faster, smaller, cheaper, and more powerful and accessible, but it’s moving faster than any governing or regulatory body could probably ever hope to. Research shows that regulations simply aren’t keeping up with the latest developments and innovation in our digital age – something that Adam Thierier, Senior Research Fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, calls ‘The Pacing Problem’.  

So, the question stands: if regulations can’t keep up with innovation, should we push forward without them, and how can we reach out to regulatory bodies to bring them up to speed?

Why regulations are good, just not good enough

The answer is complex. As I have said, regulation works for the greater good. It ensures our safety. Yet suppressing new technologies and innovations can have significant economic, social, and environmental consequences. Consider, for example, regulatory delays in industries like healthcare, which could result in putting people at further risk by not providing them with a quick and cost-efficient solution to their problem. A quick Google search will reveal many examples of companies with genuinely innovative solutions to problems being slowed due to regulations within their target industry. 

Would a world without regulation mean that we would design without inhibition? Would we express Elon-Musk-level ambitions and actually make strides towards delivering on them? Would 70% of tech start-ups still fail, or would we constantly be creating new businesses and jobs? 

How we can achieve balance between creativity and risk – and the role of 3D printing in doing so

I would argue that flexibility and autonomy is key to balancing risk and creativity. Innovation doesn’t stop, and what the general public wants, the general public tends to get. Top-down approaches simply won’t do, meaning governments and regulatory bodies need to shift away from a ‘regulate and forget’ model to build flexibility and responsiveness into their rules. Where this proves difficult, self-regulatory measures need to be in place – industries and law makers must collaborate with innovators to set realistic standards which guide our country’s innovators from the start of the process. 

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So, what role should the 3D printing industry play in helping to facilitate this brave new world?

3D printing can give innovation tangibility, and tangibility is key for offsetting uncertainty.

For businesses, 3D printing has significant benefits – rapid prototyping means that they can safely test and measure designs, recreating physical items quickly and inexpensively, without incurring traditional manufacturing costs. This first stage is key in moving innovation along from idea to product, answering the question ‘can it be made?’

So now you have a business with a prototype. What now? The second half of prototyping is proof of concept, where the physical product can be analysed and tested to ensure that it works. This stage is crucial when it comes to getting a business idea off the ground. Commercialisation and mass production usually rely on some significant financial backing, and so proof of concept is key to attracting investment so businesses can successfully manufacture and market their products.

Innovation is about speed, and so rapid prototyping is one of the most important elements of keeping innovation moving along. As simple as it may seem, it’s for this reason I would say that if the UK is to keep ahead of the innovation curve in an increasingly uncertain economy, 3D printing is an absolutely indispensable tool.

But is 3D printing alone enough?

Having said that 3D printing offers a cost-effective solution, there are still significant barriers small businesses face when it comes to accessing the tools needed to bring their ideas to life. Entry-level 3D printers, for example, produce outputs that are often inferior to those produced using traditional methods. How can a business convince a serious investor to dig deep when they are presenting a prototype that is functional but not exceptional?

This is merely one example, but one that perfectly exemplifies why I think a radical rethink of the traditional path to market is necessary to guarantee the continued uptake of innovations in the UK. Collaboration and empowering businesses are key to this.

Many companies need support in balancing the facilitation of physical creative design with the practicalities of business, as well as the tools, knowledge, and – crucially – the contacts needed to make their ideas a reality. One of the ways this can be achieved is by creating spaces where start-ups and entrepreneurs have access to the support and information they need, when they need it, as they move along the innovation journey towards commercialisation.

What does this look like? Firstly, we need to create spaces to facilitate innovation, giving businesses access to state-of-the-art labs and the latest digital fabrication facilities, including 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC machining. Secondly, businesses will need the technical know-how, so require access to a multi-discipline team with a broad spectrum of capabilities. This may include engineers supporting in technical delivery, but also academic specialists, researchers and business growth experts to cater to almost any business need. The aim would be to help businesses working with innovative technologies to take their concept and create working prototypes – from enclosures to electronics, mechanical design and manufacture – through the art of collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

So, what’s the benefit of this kind of collaboration? With the right team, approach, and facilities in place, innovative solutions can be tested and prototyped in a safe and controlled environment before being presented to customers and investors. In some instances, this may include working with partners to provide alternative finance and accreditation methods to provide entrepreneurs with different routes to market. Our research shows that, on average, these kinds of certificated campaigns raise 87% more funds and mean businesses are 4x more likely to reach their crowdfunding goal. Having a product feasibility process in place significantly impacts a business’ access to further funding, as well as target markets’ understanding and adoption of new technologies.

For me, 3D printing and rapid prototyping forms one of the key links between risk and reward, but it can’t work in isolation. For the big innovation pay-off, we must build a world where creating, prototyping, testing, and regulating, is all a collaborative process. We must equip entrepreneurs and start-ups with the tools and means to actualise their innovations, and we must give regulators the channels to feedback. Only by doing this, will we be able to keep the wheels of innovation moving.

Creativity is always going to come with risk – they’re part of the give-and-take necessary to drive economic growth and something that we will never be able to mitigate. What we can do is change the way innovators, regulators and investors interact to create a shared space which facilitates communication, collaboration, access to the right tools, and creativity.

Dan Watson is Head of Engineering at Sensor City, where he leads the technical team in harnessing more than £1m of laboratory equipment to give SMEs, start-ups and larger companies the tools to go from novel concept to working prototype with speed and accuracy.