3D Printing: The Power of a Paradigm Shift (Video)

A paradigm shift is defined as a change in one way of thinking to another. It’s a breaking down of the old ways of doing things. A transformation. The invention of the first printing press was a paradigm shift. According to academics, one of the funny things about a paradigm shift is that when you’re in one, you tend not to notice it. Many have already written about 3D printing and what it means for shaping the future of manufacturing, design and how teams and organizations will work in future. But I think we’re still slightly off the point to where the real power of this paradigm shift lies.

In the video above we wanted to re-focus on the what 3D printing really means – and that’s breaking down the barriers that remain between ideas (dreams) and actualizing them (reality).

Ideas are a gift. They begin with a moment of clarity, of inspiration – where the intensity is so great we feel that nothing can keep our vision from becoming reality. But often, our excitement wanes as the difficulties of bringing our ideas to fruition begin to wear us down. The inertia of the real world sets in and we too often give up. And as a result, we learn to nip our ideas in the bud, try to suppress them as pure fantasy not to be indulged in or allowed to interfere with our every-day routines..

And that is what 3D printing can change for the better. Ideas to reality at the press of a button. The result will be more and more ideas coming to fruition, coming from an ever wider pool of innovators from different walks of life. And with it, hopefully new solutions to problems we never imagined we’d solve. Now that’s a paradigm shift!