Abstract
The aim of this article is to investigate the changes brought about by online 3D printing platforms in co-creation and user innovation. As doing so requires a thorough understanding of the level of user involvement in productive processes and a clear view of the nature of co-creative processes, this article provides a 'prosumption' framework and a typology of co-creation activities. Then, based on case studies of 22 online 3D printing platforms, a service-based taxonomy of these platforms is constructed. The taxonomy and typology are then matched to investigate the role played by online 3D platforms in regard to the various types of co-creation activities and, consequently, how this impacts user innovation.
Highlights
Among the recent technological developments, 3D printing has been deemed as one of the most promising
Customised design printed by consumer or Customised design printed by platform
The previous sections have detailed the role that 3D printing platforms can play in regard to co-creation activities between users and firms
Summary
Among the recent technological developments, 3D printing has been deemed as one of the most promising. For Chris Anderson (Wired), the ‘‘desktop manufacturing revolution [. U.S President Barack Obama, in his 2013 second term State of the Union address, emphasised the critical role of 3D printing in strengthening manufacturing, scientific, defence and energy sectors. One of the key reasons why 3D printing technologies are considered so promising is that they render very low volume production economical and, thereby, enable mass-customisation on a very large scale. They create significant opportunities for co-creation between firms and their customers. Co-creation and mass-customisation are two very important vectors of user innovation, which is, itself, a critical source of radical innovation (Lettl, 2007)
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