What the quantum tech community can learn from 3D printing.

Last week the Formnext - Where ideas take shape took place in my home town, Frankfurt. As every year, I take at least a couple of hours to walk over the exhibition, meet old and new friends and find out what new interesting technologies are entering the market and how the 3D printing industry is evolving. However, the last 2 years were a bit depressing. Even 5 years ago the 3D printing industry was exciting and every year new and impressive technologies entered the market. Faster printing, printing at industrial scale, new materials, multimaterial metal printing and tons of new applications that come with these new technologies. Since 2 years nothing new and impressive was shown at the Formnext. One might argue that in a mature industry not every year new and exciting technologies can be presented and it is more about small, gradual improvements. However, the problem lies deeper. As Pawel Slusarczyk points in his recent article "The Deadliest of all Dead Ends in the 3D Printing Industry" points out, the industry is in crisis. Growth rates, promised to investors, can not be hit and the market goes through a phase of corporate consolidation. Ultimately this process will benefit the market, but the situation could have been less severe argues Pawel Slusarczyk. The 3D printing market is in a much later maturity stage compared to quantum technologies, but its roots lie, similar to quantum technologies, in deep tech. Both markets are fighting with some of the same problems. So, I think it is the perfect market to learn from and improve.

About one of the problems the 3D printing has according to Pawel Slusarczyk I talked already in the beginning. Every year the industry presented better looking prints, new materials and faster machines. That is great and at least seemed to have worked for me as well as many investors. Progress is best seen with something that you can touch, see and feel. But, pleasing exhibition visitors and investors is unfortunately only a small part of the game. The actual customers were less impressed. To move from rapid prototyping to real industrial production with 3D printers (additive manufacturing, where the real money is) the customers have specific requirements. Systems have to have reasonable RoI (Return of Investment), they have to be easy to use, they have to integrate into existing production procedures and they require specific materials and printing sizes. All of this is not yet solved good enough that customers will jump on the AM train according to Pawel Slusarczyk. He suggest the following:

• Be true: understand who you really are and don’t try to be someone you are not and will never be
• Be different: use all of the advantages that the technology offers and go where no one else goes
• Share and spread: do it together with others; do not lock the technology away.

So, what can we learn from that? First of all, it is important to know and understand your customer. What needs, pains and restrictions do they have? How do they do it now? What value would a better solution have to bring to make it attractive? But, also don't forget about yourselves! Knowing yourself is as important as knowing your customer. The customer will have many requests, ideas and needs. Pleasing the customer only to please the customer is never a good idea. Sometimes a market is not the right one to begin with or what the customer says he needs isn't what he actually needs. Be aware of these facts when building your product.

Be bold! Quantum advantage will likely not be found while copying classical algorithms and hoping that quantum computers will make them faster. In 3D printing exactly this mistake was made for many years. People took CAD files from CNC processes and printed them on 3D printers. The result were the same parts with all the same problems as the traditional ones, just more expensive and slower to produce. The industrialization of 3D printing sat just in when people understood that new design are required to reap the benefits of these new machines. The same way it will likely be in quantum computing and quantum technologies as a whole. The answer will not be to throw classical algorithms and applications on a quantum computer, it will be about finding completely new ways of solving problems with a completely new technology bringing new possibilities, but also new restrictions.

The last one is the most important, but also the most difficult. Doing it together. The race for quantum advantage has already become of strategical importance for nations and corporations. So, 'share and spread' comes with heavy restrictions. But, never the less, I think the market is still in a phase were baking a bigger cake is more important than fighting over crumbs.

So, I hope you enjoyed my 5 cents on what we can learn from the 3D printing market. I am looking forward to your thoughts on the topic in the comments below. Until then, read you next time!