A report published today urges the government to review policies, provide funding and offer workshops for the development of 3D printing in the UK.
The report, published by the Big Innovation Centre which is part of think tank The Work Foundation, sets out a national policy framework for the development of 3D printing and explores the opportunities that it could provide for the UK economy.
Three dimensional policy: why Britain needs a policy framework for 3D printing, authored by Andrew Sissons and Spencer Thompson says that the UK must act quickly to become an early adopter of 3D technology – described in the report as a sub-category of additive manufacturing where products are built up layer by layer using different materials - and claims that it could create manufacturing jobs, produce more sustainable products and offer consumers a wider choice.
However it also warns that the government must address a series of issues before 3D technology can be developed for a wider UK market such as developing standards for 3D equipment and processes, improving materials used to create 3D printed products and addressing regulations that could currently allow people to produce illegal or dangerous products using the equipment at home.
The report issues a series of recommendations that it says the government should take to help "seize the 3D printing agenda". It calls for: the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to set up a 3D printing "task force" to develop ideas from businesses and academia; a fund to be established to support 3D printing workshops; a review of intellectual property implications; funding to be provided for competitions to develop new materials for 3D printing; and a study into the methods of regulating the 3D printing markets.
3D in its various forms is currently predominantly used for prototyping, large scale manufacturing or by ‘hobbyists’ who experiment with a process known as Fused Deposition Modelling.
Spencer Thompson, co-author of the report, said that although 3D technology "is a long way off" reaching the mass market, it would eventually become far more affordable and could change the face of manufacturing and consumption by enabling people to produce bespoke items locally.
"At the moment this is s a niche industry but it could eventually be a replacement of mass production techniques, offering a localised manufacturing for much more personalised production for customers.
"It will make design of products much more important, the quality is in the design rather than the materials.
Patents for existing 3D print equipment is currently patented to a small number of US firms, according to Thompson, which he could prevent healthy competition for the development of such machinery in the UK.
He added: "The government may need to monitor the situation to see if the market is being exploited here in which case it may pave the way for some kind of competition legislation."