12. Entrepreneurial advancements of 3D printing technique
Entrepreneurship is understood here as an ability to undertake (entreprendre) an active attitude to life, to initiate a course of action for the benefit of oneself and the community. It characterizes people who have and realise the potential of an active, enterprising attitude to life and career.
Potential of fostering entrepreneurship by 3D technique comes first of all from the fact that it is very innovative and its use continues to grow in almost all branches of industry. Craftsmanship, medicine, architecture, robotics, archeology – these are just a few examples, where 3D technique occupies an important place. There are new materials for 3D printing constantly invented and 3D printing technologies improvements.
3D printing is becoming more and more common, cheaper and accessible for everyone and at the same time more precise and sophisticated for advanced use. There are simple 3D printers for home use and advanced models available only for researchers and companies. You can print a replacement part for your equipment at home, but at the same time, there are companies and laboratories printing cars, houses and even human organs (https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-just-3d-printed-a-mini-heart-using-human-tissue).
Therefore learning 3D techniques can be a part of the preparation for working in many different areas. Besides, it teaches creativity, develops spatial imagination And planning skills. Sometimes, when your projects require sharing and discussing ideas, it can foster also teamwork and task division capabilities, which surely will be very important in future work.
Apart of its many applications, 3D techniques, as a still relatively new phenomenon, is interesting itself and therefore can attract many people to start exploring and using it in different fields, whether they are more engineering or artistic oriented. They may discover new, more effective and innovative ways of working in the fields they are already engaged in and become more confident entering the job market or opening own business.
If you would like to organise more complex workshop sessions about entrepreneurship with your group, you can use for example materials developed for this course: https://www.est.edu.pl/artisan/learning-resources/ It’s the main subject is different, but the last part of the curriculum and final module of the online course can be easily implemented to the 3D design and printing workshops as well.