The 3D Printshow returns this November after its first outing last October. Its début show was successful, if slightly confusing owing to the steep learning curve provided by an emerging and amorphous sector. Reflecting a growing show and increasing ambition on the part of the organiser, it's moved from The Brewery in Chiswell Street to Islington's larger Business Design Centre, and the organiser has added more content and segmentation to make it easier to navigate and learn.

If this sector is still alien to you, the 3D Printshow may still be something of an undertaking to discern what to see. However, this event's mix of seminars, stands and show features is probably the most effective way to improve an understanding of 3D print technology and how it could be relevant to you and your business.

At roughly 60, exhibitors are up 50 percent on the inaugural show. That might seem like a low number compared with the big print technology exhibitions, but the rate of growth is astonishing. In fact, with the land of flat print in its darkest days you'd be forgiven for thinking the trade shows were contracting that rapidly, in some cases.

While equipment vendors - both manufacturers and resellers - dominate the exhibitor list, there's a good spread of firms from throughout the supply chain. Returning are both consultancy Econolyst, the pre-eminent specialist in this sector, and education and research sites such as University of Nottingham, which is one of several centres of 3D printing expertise in UK academia.

If buying is on your agenda, a wide gamut of devices will be on show, from self-assembly desktop kits for the hobbyist through to industrial-scale machines for functional manufacturing at significant scale. Most additive manufacturing processes are also represented, including extrusion, ink-jet deposition, sintering, photostereolithography and, even, humble paper. But it's not just the hardware: there are also software and service vendors, plus several firms using the web to connect people with ideas and the kit to make them a reality.

One of the areas receiving more explicit coverage this year is 3D scanning, the crucial element in turning real world objects into 3D code to output. This process is still relatively crude and expensive, much like the early days of digital imaging, although there are products coming to market that knock a nought off the cost of a scanner. Fuel3D, a spin-off from Oxford University, will present its eponymous scanner, shipping from next September for a mere ￡990.

Supporting the importance of this discipline is the Scanning Zone feature area, where 3D scanning specialist Quod will scan you at the show, and give you the choice of taking away a digital 3D file of yourself for ￡50 or receiving a 3D-printed miniature figure for ￡220.

While the technology and the supply chain for capturing, creating, editing, outputting and distributing 3D print is important, it is all for nothing without an understanding of the applications possible. Here the show has upped its game, with dedicated show features focusing on the use of 3D print in core applications including architecture, art, fashion, medical and the intriguing secret category. These features combine output examples for different applications, such as interior and architecture in the 3D printed home and modelling and special effects in the Movie Zone, with examples from blockbuster films showing how the technology is already widely deployed in the entertainment sector.

The 3D Printed Museum shows how the technology can be used to bring experiential events to life, while the hospital will highlight the many applications for the technology in healthcare and life sciences. These range from dentistry and plastic surgery through to the future developments of producing replacement bones and organs.

On the Friday there is a whole session devoted to education: bringing in children and teachers to introduce them to 3D print, a welcome openness that extends from any adult's childlike wonder about the process. This is a refreshing change from the common or garden print event's policy of no under-16s, for health and safety reasons.

This is a topic grabbing headlines in the business and national press, and is naturally appealing to inquisitive young minds. The event is going well out of its way to further accommodate them - a lesson that the print industry should take on board.