Global Diffusion of Innovation during the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Case of Additive Manufacturing or 3D Printing

Harm-Jan Steenhuis, Xin Fang and Tolga Ulusemre

Chapter 14 in Emerging Issues and Trends in Innovation and Technology Management, 2021, pp 333-368 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: Additive manufacturing can be considered an innovative and high-technology and one of its characteristics is that it has limited dependency on the location. The purpose of this study is to examine this aspect by investigation how additive manufacturing is spreading globally. The focus is on established manufacturers of industrial additive manufacturing machines. It was found that the early-stage diffusion of this technology is primarily in advanced economies. Furthermore, many of the currently established companies that manufacture industrial 3D printers come from already existing companies that expanded into AM or that led to spin-off companies. The complexity of AM which requires expert knowledge across a range of fields may be the key reason for this finding. Recommendations for further research are provided.

Keywords: Radical Innovations; Innnovation Development Methods; Lead User Workshop; Disruptive Innovaton; Uber; IoT Ecosystem; New Product Development; Cross-industry Innovation; Boundary Spanning; Agile-Stage-Gate Hybrid Model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O32 O33 O36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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