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2 Makers – Technologies and Economic Rules

The digital world offers interesting opportunities for user entrepreneurs (van Hippel 2005). Compared to physical products, software solutions, cloud services, or Internet-based services can be easily marketed around the globe. For instance, small businesses or user entrepreneurs often develop Apps for marketplaces, such as the iTunes or the Google Play AndroidApp Store. Similar trends can be observed in the B2B sector around platforms such as force.com. The question is now to what extent new technologies and complementary services are able to transfer the principles from the physical to the digital world. Chris Anderson’s book “Makers – The new industrial revolution” deals exactly with this issue and raises the question: “What happens when the web generation turns to the real world?” So far, the topic itself has received a great deal of attention in the United States. US President Obama emphasized recently that he would like to encourage all young people to engage with science, whether participating in robot competitions, science festivals or engineering fairs. This initiative is supported by an extensive funding program (Schulman 2013). Active participants of the movement often call themselves “Makers”. The Makers movement consists of user entrepreneurs who use software tools to create digital designs and either turn them into physical products with the help of new technologies (e.g., 3D printers, laser cutters, or CNC tools) or have these produced by third parties (Anderson 2012). There are numerous examples such as electronic components, toys, but also weapons (Zeit 2013) – a Japanese company even offers the production of fetus models based on 3D ultrasound data (Focus 2013). But the Makers movement also stands for a culture as it is known from the “traditional Web 2.0 world”: Similar to open source projects, digital designs are often shared and then used or extended by third parties. This culture is a key driver for innovations and might fundamentally change the way how physical products are designed and produced. The potentials of these new developments for the overall economy become clear when comparing the size of the digital economy with the manufacturing sector. While in Germany the production value in the manufacturing industry reached EUR 2,191.54 billion in 2011, sales within the digital economy amounted only to EUR 110.14 billion in the same year (German Federal Association of the Digital Economy, BVDW, 2011). Generally, a significant drop in prices for tools (e.g., 3D printers) is expected within the next few years. Against this background, Internet visionary Chris Anderson and Neil Gershenfeld of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe the world will face a new revolution similar to the spread of personal computers. In contrast, Hartmut Schwandt of the TU Berlin slightly dampens the euphoria and says that the creation of 3D models requires great expertise, a fact which currently hampers a broad diffusion (Zeit 2013). 2 Makers – Technologies and Economic Rules