Why would Stratasys buy Makerbot?
There has been lots of rumors about Makerbot being in play over the past few days, which is a bit surprising in itself.
But even more surprising is that Stratasys would be the company interested in buying them.
For those who don’t know a whole lot about the 3D printing market, it’s one that Stratasys, in large part, invented. In fact, between 3D Systems and Stratasys (which also owns Objet now), the two companies control a huge amount of the IP in this space.
And how much does Makerbot control? Not really any. In fact, the origins of the Makerbot is Reprap, the open-source 3D printer project. Now, Makerbot made the decision to not keep its development and IP entirely open (a decision which caused a falling out with one of its cofounders), but there’s really not a ton of proprietary IP there that I think would matter to a company like Stratasys.
So if Stratasys and 3D systems were so early in this space and locked up a whole bunch of the prior art, why in the world would Stratasys buy Makerbot?
A couple reasons. One significant one is the brand that is Makerbot. No doubt, many people who only have a nodding acquaintance with the market tend to think Makerbot IS consumer 3D printing, despite the fact the company has sold only approximately 20 thousand printers (and many of those to business and professional markets).
Is the Makerbot brand worth it? Maybe. And sure, they Makerbot printers are well reviewed.
But there’s another potential reason Stratasys would be interested: Thingiverse.
In fact, I think Thingiverse is actually a much bigger deal than Makerbot printers. Being probably the biggest 3D printing design market around, it has huge potential in the 3D printing services market which, as I’ve written before, is where much of the early action in 3D printing will be. While the market is largely open source designs today, there’s no reason why there could be a significant layer of 3D printing services as well as premium services added in.
And in the end, owning the biggest online market for 3D printed designs may be a much bigger deal than owning a 3D printing manufacturer, especially for a company with much more IP and resources at its disposal than Makerbot itself.
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How 3D Printing Works
The Revolution of 3D Printing in the Fashion industry
Stratasys and Materialise has announced the unveiling of 3D printing collaborations on the catwalks of Paris Fashion Week as part of Iris van Herpen’s Haute Couture show, ‘VOLTAGE’.
Source: Materialise
Dutch designer van Herpen’s eleven-piece collection featured two 3D printed ensembles, including an elaborate skirt and cape (top right) created in collaboration with artist, architect, designer, and professor Neri Oxman from MIT’s Media Lab, and 3D printed by Stratasys.
“The ability to vary softness and elasticity inspired us to design a “second skin” for the body acting as armor-in-motion; in this way we were able to design not only the garment’s form but also its motion,” explains Oxman. “The incredible possibilities afforded by these new technologies allowed us to reinterpret the tradition of couture as “tech-couture” where delicate hand-made embroidery and needlework is replaced by code.”
Van Herpen adds, “I feel it’s important that fashion can be about much more than consumerism, but also about new beginnings and self-expression, so my work very much comes from abstract ideas and using new techniques, not the re-invention of old ideas. I find the process of 3D printing fascinating because I believe it will only be a matter of time before we see the clothing we wear today produced with this technology, and it’s because it’s such a different way of manufacturing, adding layer-by-layer, it will be a great source of inspiration for new ideas.
So, welcome to the future of fashion design. We were wondering how far would 3D technology go in the next 50 years?
Exclusive Look At The Prototype of World's First 3-D Printed Car. By Ariel Schwartz
The first Urbee rolled off the printing press a few days ago. Fast Company has an exclusive look at the sexy 200 mpg super-light hybrid.
[Images: Urbee]
Stratasys and US Department of Energy form joint initiative for energy efficient production
“3D printer manufacturer Stratasys announced a joint initiative with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to jointly develop fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing to foster energy efficient production.” via 3ders.org
