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Article history: Fabcreating, a highly sophisticated form of 3D printing, has become ubiquitous by 2033. We
Received 21 November 2012 outline how digital fabrication might evolve in a science fiction prototype (SFP) and provide a
Received in revised form 13 August 2013 2033 use case in which consumers produce their own highly customized consumer electronics
Accepted 27 August 2013 at home. It shows how consumers virtually select, customize and print mobile phones and
Available online 22 October 2013
highlights how digital fabrication impacts society at large. Our technology outlook is backed
by expert interviews. Our story vignette forms a showcase to address the role of technology,
Keywords: creativity and context in SFP. We address the anatomy of SFP and argue that context is
Science fiction prototyping important in order to promote opportunity recognition and to envisage game changing
Consumer technology
technologies and their societal impact. We develop a SFP typology based on a technology
3D printing
prototype and context prototype perspective.
Digital fabrication
Entrepreneurship 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Radical innovation
0040-1625/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.08.026
102 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
2. Technological background & context of the In order to obtain a better sense of the current technological
story vignette landscape in digital fabrication, the FP7 Diginova consortium has
conducted an expert survey among leading industry experts
Most products in consumer technology result from an (sample characteristics depicted in Appendix A.1). Indeed, the
established mass production infrastructure. This production statement that digital fabrication will fundamentally change the
infrastructure rests upon extensive prototyping and testing world we live in is agreed upon by 68% of the experts (out of
before a product is mass-produced. Customization is usually which 24% strongly agreed) and in addition, 27% anticipated
modular and scale economies form an important driver of partial but yet significant changes. Only 4% disagreed with the
cost-efficient production. A cell phone for example has to pass statement. Following an emerging technology hype-cycle, digital
several modular steps in the value chain before it reaches the fabrication is a promising technology in a nascent stage (56%)
end-customer2 [20]. From a business perspective, this compo- and 37% of respondents perceive digital fabrication being
nent approach involves drawbacks like large stocks, high manual currently at the peak of inflated expectations. It allows for
labor, large capital investments, and long distance transporta- batch size one, change over time zero and configuration
tion. Whereas in the 1990s the industry was still vertically flexibility to adopt easily to new products. Considering the
integrated, it is becoming increasingly horizontal [20]. Emerging strength of the organizations that the experts surveyed work for,
customer-needs like customization, personalization, or on- it is important to note that technological advances and R&D
demand fulfillment cannot be properly addressed through mass competencies are considered as major organizational strengths
production infrastructure. A trend towards more customization (Fig. 3). The technology, though additive manufacturing and 3D
in an increasingly digital and networked setting calls for a printing date back to the early 1980s, is still in R&D stage.
paradigm shift in manufacturing. Strengths in detecting new market trends, leveraging resources
Digital fabrication is commonly referred to as the third and adaptability of production to market needs are still
industrial revolution [2123]. Digital designs are directly under-represented. Out of 42 experts, 88% either strongly agree
converted into ready-to-use products skipping the prototyping or agree that improved material properties are required for
step. From the beginning, this revolution is not limited to business enhancing development and 87% regard a wider choice
large firms but of a highly consumer-involving nature. Thus, of materials as business enhancing. Accordingly, materials are
consumers are merely prosumers who produce and consume. still bottleneck to this emerging technology.
3D printing can be described as a radical innovation, as it will An integral part of the survey is an assessment of future
disrupt the current manufacturing industry: new market applications and a respective years to market evaluation. This
entrants with new products, services, and business models expert outlook is provided in Fig. 4, which also addresses several
substantially challenge the established players3 [24]. In the other potential use cases in consumer technology. In our SFP, we
subsequent section, the state of technology will be further further elaborate on the role of digital fabrication in consumer
analyzed based on the results of a recent expert survey that has technology at the example of printing a complete highly
been conducted with digital fabrication experts in the context of customized cell phone. One of the base technologies embedded
the FP7 project "Diginova - Innovation for Digital Fabrication".4 in this SFP, printable displays, is represented in Fig. 3.
Our SFP blends an advanced version of 3D printing and In summary, as a survey participant stated, digital fabrica-
printed electronics with a futuristic environment. The story tion allows for a completely distributed manufacturing system
describes the potential development process of the technol- incorporating the cost benefits associated with production line
ogy shift. An embedded story vignette describes a potential manufacturing combined with bespoke products and solu-
use case in 2033 and how users interact with consumer tions. Electronics have already been printed for years (e.g.
technology enabled by digital fabrication. It demonstrates how [25]) and almost all kinds of materials can be employed at high
virtual reality and reality become increasingly intertwined precision rates. A combination of electronics, printing and
and how most products can be fabcreated at the consumer additive manufacturing appears to be fruitful in the future [26].
premises. Consumers reach the highest degree of customiza- Industry experts have high expectations regarding its production
tion by printing perfectly tailored online goods at home. paradigm shifting potential. Bespoke manufacturing at point of
use will enable value to be secured by the originators of the
2.1. Digital fabrication the state of technology in 2013
2
1) Generic hardware and software components have to be developed 2)
specic components like the operating system have to be programmed to
integrate the generic components and make them work 3) the end-user device is
specied through design & integration 4) the product has to be physically
assembled, produced and branded, before it reaches the customer.
3
3D printing dates back to a patent by Hull led in 1986 while working
for a systems manufacturing company; he is inventor of the solid imaging
process known as stereolithography (3D Printing), the rst commercial Fig. 3. Expert organizational strengths in digital fabrication. Note: Multiple
rapid prototyping technology. answers possible, n = 84; Source: FP7 project "Diginova - Innovation for
4
Sample characteristics and background to the survey in Appendix A. Digital Fabrication".
104 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
3. Story vignette
Fig. 4. When will products based on digital fabrication be on the market for
the first time? Note: Multiple answers possible, n varies between 38 and 41; In this section, we will propose a framework outlining how
the cut off point for a technology to be considered is a cumulated agreement
context is taken into account in SFP and hint at the process of
of 90% or more to be considered mature in the respective time frame.
Source: the FP7 project "Diginova - Innovation for Digital Fabrication". fiction transformation. With an exponential adoption curve of
fabcreators in households, the possibilities this technology
enables sky rocket. It all starts with innovative base technology
ideas. Our SFP blends an advanced version of the currently revolutionizing production processes significantly. The poten-
emerging 3D printing technology and printed electronics with tial use case in the story vignette shows how fabcreation
future context, as outlined in the subsequent section. enables end users to print their own devices. Features, designs,
and other product specifications are downloaded from a
2.2. The world in 2033 the future context virtual component store and afterwards directly merged and
fabcreated. Competition is high but so are opportunities. Except
In 2033 almost everything is printed or fabcreated, as we for skill and creativity, barriers to entry are quasi non-existent.
name the process. Back in 2013, printing was a routine that Production has become a social event. Social production is
we performed at our offices and considered an old-fashioned widespread, as going virtual has become the gate to the world
commodity. Now, it dominates our daily lives. The first 3D and the fabcreator is the key to consumption. Virtual show
printers were called Fabbers (short for Digital Fabricators) rooms and stores are easily accessible, as TVs and computers
but fabcreating is more a composite of fab for fabulous and have long been completely integrated into a fully virtually
creation regarding its etymology. Whereas the internet has real (VR) environment. VR is three dimensional in space and
revolutionized how we access, create, process and store voice, motion and emotion-controlled. While back 20 years
information and how we interact and interconnect with ago earlier generation printers took several hours to fabcreate
other people, Fabcreation has revolutionized manufacturing. products and resolution was poor, production time has now
Advances in 3D printing have revolutionized the entire reduced significantly at a remarkably high resolution. This
consumer technology landscape, how business is conducted enables a multitude of applications.
and the way we live as a society in 2033.
Fabcreation enables local manufacturing down to the level of 3.1. Ann, Brian and digital fabrication
individual desktop users at home: end user objects that are one
of a kind can be created. Physical objects can be immediately It is October 2012, Brian is sitting in his student dorm
delivered to home user desktops via virtual shopping centers. watching TV. It has been a tough day with lectures on
Production in bulk and holding products in stock have become entrepreneurial theory in the morning followed by an
largely obsolete, as they are based on an outdated production applied afternoon session on creativity. A representative
concept. What we can observe is a highly individualized from a nearby research institute introduced the students to
M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114 105
the current state of research in printed electronics and A: What do you mean?
associated patents and highlighted how they struggle with
transforming their newest findings into marketable prod- B: Cell phones. They've got lots of electronics.
ucts. What is more, they learned about a new method in
class: science fiction prototyping. Now, the students have to A: And displays! Sounds interesting. But I guess we won't
come up with a future application of digital fabrication in need them anymore in 2033?
20 years ahead. There were so many ideas in the room. But
what are the game changing technologies of the future? B: You mean that's not the way we're going to communicate
Switching through the channels, Brian comes across an old in the future and smart phones are going to be replaced?
Star Trek series from 1987: Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The episode first employs what is referred to as the A: Exactly. Who knows. There is happening so much in
replicator. Brian is fascinated by the device. He keeps on technology.
watching and flips through several social network messages
on his smartphone. He is messaging with Ann, one of his They decide to conduct profound due diligence on the
friends and team colleagues in creativity class. current state of digital fabrication. Brian, an engineer,
volunteers to focus on the technology part while Ann, a
B: Ann, switch to Channel 10they are airing this old Star business major with passion for design, will screen all aspects
Trek series. related to product design and future trends associated with
the usability of smart phones and possible alternatives.
He wants to know more about the replicator and punches
the term into the search interface on his phone. He instantly B: There are so many 3D printers out there, it's unbelievable.
obtains a result: a device that can produce any non-living You can nd them in all kinds of sizes, ranging from industry
matter that it has on file. Brian considers the replicator as to desktop applications. And this is apparently just the
being a funny idea but regards it as pure science fiction. beginning. Ann, this has the potential to change how we
When he sees the subsequent episode in which communica- design, produce, and buy stuff!
tor badges are used, he is stunned and thrilled:
Ann can immediately see that this class project is going to
B: Wait a minute! He looks at his new blue tooth in-ear be fun. Brian continues:
device. This is not just science ction.
B: Already in additive manufacturing todayjust by putting
layer on layer of specic materialsone can print pretty
B: Ann, have you seen the communicator badges? They've
much anything. Entire engines. Even rst houses got printed!
already had them before phones were even popular or
Guess what: The form does not matter and forget about
designed the way they are. Do you think there's a technology
prototyping. It's all happening in CAD, can be visualized on
like the replicator in place as well?
screen and there you go!
A: I've recently read an article on digital manufacturing in The degree of detail of his technology knowledge after
The Economist! It proclaims a third industrial revolution just one week of research is remarkable. Ann joins in by
triggered by manufacturing going digital. adding.
Brian reads the suggested article. He learns that additive B: I came across similar articles, especially a combination
manufacturing and 3D printing are strongly associated with this of printing electronics and additive manufacturing ap-
development and form the base technologies that are forecast to pears to be interesting. Even at the company my Dad
revolutionize manufacturing, associated business models and works for.
location strategies. Some days later, Brian meets Ann in the
dining hall to discuss a potential topic for their creativity class. Ann is critical. She considers all the articles that Brian has
discovered in the popular press as overly enthusiastic.
B: I'm still so fascinated by our ndings on 3D printing.
A: Brian, tell me, if 3D printing was so great, why hasn't it
A: For me it's more the printed electronics part. It's just been adopted yet?
amazing. You could create displays that are like paper
Brian is constantly busy with his phone and seemingly She issues her concerns.
mentally absent.
A: I mean, come on, have you ever come across this before? It
A: Come on Brian, stop it. We want to brainstorm ideas. I've strikes me that such a sophisticated technology does not nd
got another meeting in an hour. a better solution to integrate design and production.
B: Let's start a project based on this technology.
Throughout the term, both work harder for this project
A: Which technology? than for any other class. They talk to experts in the field and
engage in creative thinking on how this radical technology
B: You think one could print them? will unfold its impact in the upcoming decades.
106 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
B: Listen Ann, traditional printer manufacturers are starting the living room after dinner. Sitting on the couch and enjoying
to gain interest in producing home printer series capable of their drinks, she distributes 3D lenses to go virtual. Augmented
3D printing. But they are still at a very basic level. reality virtualizing, blending virtual reality directly into the
vision of the human eye by manipulating the brain, has not
By now, their project is not about developing an indi- been adopted yet. Substantial law suits have followed a failed
vidual product application as initially planned. It is more prototype test. Nevertheless, the lenses provide a reasonably
about grasping 3D printing, printed electronics and under- close experience in VR. Customers can move around in virtual
standing its future potential and how society will interact stores and switch from one showroom to another at ease. It is
with it. a platform on which all designers for fabcreated goods offer
It is Monday, December 10th. Final project presentations their latest work. All products that are available online can be
are due. accessed and what you see as a virtual product is a visualized
source code.
A: Nervous?
S: Let's enter the virtual store!
B: We're well-prepared. Let's go!
S: Log into Reunion52033Shelly.
The creativity class has a tradition to invite executives
from large corporations, investors and industry experts as Each user needs an account to avoid fraud. Via unique
judges for the student projects. The room is crowded, as the profiles that have to be verified with legal identification
presentations are famous for their innovative character. They documents, virtual stores know their customers, their habits,
start with a couple of slides on the current state of technology their online social network activities, their in-store behavior and,
followed by a story vignette on how digital fabrication will of course, all their preferences. Users get tailored recommenda-
change our everyday life with excerpts from the following tions and obtain the highest degree of customization: Products
SFP they wrote. can be edited according to individual preferences and the result
is immediately observable. Selecting a product of choice offers a
3.2. The project: use case 2033 Shelly is printing her new multitude of features to choose from. Every option desired in CE,
phone such as where buttons should be located and which form a
device should ideally have, can be perfectly harmonized. Shelly
It is 8 pm. Shelly (S) has prepared dinner for her friends and her friends start designing the phone bracelet.
Cindy (C) and Betty (B) and they are planning to spend a
night out later that evening. It is for the 5th time that they are B: So, what are your preferences?
celebrating their final graduation from the university. Shelly
is in a bad mood she has lost her phone bracelet on her S: It has to be ultra thin and highly exible I always listen
jogging route and it is not traceable. It is fully shock-proof, to lots of music while doing sports.
waterproof and would have run another 4 weeks on the
power unit. She tells her friends. As the phone is based on C: What about this template?
Shelly's biometrics, nobody except for her can use it. This is
what makes her mad. She sighs: S: It looks great but I want the display to be expendable to
watch movies while travelling and it has to be perfectly
S: Someone must have removed the power unit so that I adjusted to my wrist
cannot trace it back. This is so useless! Luckily, no data are
lost. Damage is reduced to replacing the device. Betty redesigns in a flash.
C: Let's help you. I've just designed and fabcreated my new B: Look at this! There are new visualization lenses including
phone bracelet last week. street social networking, navigational system and video
conferencing mode.
Just like in many other industries, such as the food industry,
fabcreation has led to fundamental changes. As most products The lenses have definitely entered the shopping cart. It
are home-fabcreated (except for bigger devices that are takes a while to add biometric data as a fraud protection to both
fabcreated at printing hubs in the vicinity), they can be ordered devices. While Shelly and Betty are still discussing the design of
and self-designed in virtual show rooms and immediately the phone bracelet and keep on introducing new modifications
produced ready for use at home. Shelly and her guests move to to several base models, Cindy feels like being of no help.
M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114 107
C: Would you mind me designing a new necklace in the After having exited the virtual world and bought the source
meanwhile? code, it is now just a matter of having the raw materials
required and time. Fabcreators are true all-rounders but highly
She starts playing around with a couple of designs in the dependent on the proper resource mix. The resource require-
virtual store that fit her new dress that she bought for their ments are attached to each product (or job when an e-object is
reunion. In the virtual store all product categories are just a coming in). The resource requirements communicate with the
step into another virtual room away. What is more, there are printer and if not available and upon confirmation by the users
suggestions in terms of what would match her individual new resources are ordered in either dedicated size batches or
style and the dress. Cindy has modified a necklace in terms of defined size batches to keep a repository.
color and material. It is now a combination of tiny sea shells
with golden elements connected by a fine line made of silver. B: Did any of you keep track of the resources we need?
C: Perfect! Estimated fabcreation time b15 min.! S: Good point. I guess not.
She puts the design into her shopping cart and is Having to order resources via the replenish button causes
looking forward to the fabcreated result. She joins Shelly some production delays, till resources are delivered. For urgent
and Betty. They have come to a conclusion on the best production needs, there are 24/7 local service centers that sell
phone bracelet. and deliver raw material cartridges according to requested
specifications. Replenishment is fairly easy and consists of
C: Finally! adding powder and/or new cartridges. They start fabcreating
their purchases by checking out. The fabcreating lasts about
S: With these new lenses I can go virtual from anywhere! 40 min. for the phone bracelet and yet another 15 min. for
You like the design of the bracelet by the way? each accessory bracelet. While already printing for 10 min., a
warning pops up.
In order not to be impolite, Cindy reshapes the bracelet a
little bit in the editing mode. Cindy presents her new necklace. S: Here we gonoble earth constraint: error code VIIIb/6.
Now I need to re-order.
B: Wow! This is so beautiful! Now you're all set for tonight!
B: No way. Just try the proceed without button.
Then Shelly has an idea.
S: Proceed without?
S: Why not surprise Maria? The necklace is just beautiful!
B: It's a new function in the 4th generation printers. Usually, if
They make it a special memory of the reunion, finish the there are resource constraints, there is a work-around in the
design together and then send to Maria so she can fabcreate it programming code at a surcharge that optimizes accordingly.
after work. The girls fabcreate almost everything they purchase.
They strongly appreciate the convenience to shop almost S: Ah, I see. 10 EUR on top and all products can be completed
anything anytime and anywhere. Fabcreating has become part on time. Let's go for it.
of their culture just like going virtual. And especially in CE, it is
very handy to see the device in its full functionality being virtual, Fabcreators ensure a highly efficient use of resources as
while still being able to customize to individual needs. However, remaining raw material powder is directly withdrawn by
there is one product group they would rather not fabcreate: suction, separated, restored and then refilled into the proper
Fashion. When Cindy presents her necklace in the virtual raw material container. While the fabcreator is printing their
shopping mall, she instantly gets a dress recommendation. products, the girls send an e-object to Maria's desktop. It is a
Each purchasing transaction or search history and taste is supplement to the necklace: Their university mascot holding a
reflected in her account and the system knows what looks fit her card with their best wishes. Sending goods while being virtual is
best according to online social networks she is engaged in and only one new form of e-commerce. Also e-object has become
the feedback she receives on pictures. widespread. It is based on a fab-scanner that allows sending
physical goods by fabcreating a copy at the recipient's fabcreator.
S: Hmmthe look is there but going virtual still cannot In the early days, resolution was fairly low and only simple
simulate odors and feel. I'm for the real boutiques in town objects could be sent. Shelly recalls her first e-object: a cup she
and having coffee at a bar when moving from store to store. sent to her father from fabcreation class at high school. Back then,
the major limitation was that the scanner could only scan the
The recommendation is a perfect match with her taste product from the outside and would only be able to identify the
and just for fun she puts on the dress in a virtual fitting room. proper form without what is hidden inside (such as the exact
Her friends are really excited about it but have their strong material specification and e.g. all circuit boards and micro
principles on shopping fashion. Fabcreated cloth, especially electronics). With an increasing availability of fabcreated
with higher quality material, just does not convey the proper products source code has become ubiquitous so that each
feeling. At least this is what many fashion lovers report. product can be stored in a database and its form, shape and a
Consumer technology is the bridge between humans and VR, special tag tell which object to send. There have been
it forms the interfaces and input devices. controversial discussions in the media about e-object since its
108 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
increasing adoption in 2025. Whereas transportation of goods S: Brian, this is John Smith. I've recently read a small article
via planes, ship, railway and trucks has been minimized so that on your 3Del in a technology blog. It looks like you have
supply chains are almost carbon dioxide neutral, there is still a come across something big with your printer material ink
duplication problem. Sending an e-object with a fab-scanner injection method. We should talk. We're really interested.
always constitutes the fabcreation of a duplicate. Also, Please call me back.
copyright issues are a prevailing problem: 20 years ago it was
almost impossible to copy consumer electronics completely. Smith (S) is a well-known blogger in the digital fabrication
Nowadays, one only needs access to the digital source code of a scene, former top manager at a large hardware manufacturer
product. and now managing the corporate venture capital (CVC) fund of
Finally, all fabcreating jobs have been completed and the that manufacturer. Brian and Smith meet several times and the
girls head out to town to spend a great night out. CVC allocates financial support for a 30% stake. A productive
period of 6 months results in 3Del2, a prototype with sufficient
durability and precision. Another 10 months and a total of USD
3.3. Technology transformation 15 million in financing results in 3DelUltimate, a ready-to-use
home fabcreator that is able to print three-dimensional pro-
The audience applauds. The jury is overwhelmed by their ducts with electronic properties. From here on, market po-
story and its potential. A research institute representative tential develops rapidly.
(R) directly approaches Ann and Brian during a get-together In 2019, installed base reaches more than 500,000 customers.
subsequent to their presentation. 3Del keeps on revolutionizing the production landscape in a
radical fashion. With Smith being involved in the management
R: Very well-done, I'm also very impressed by your under- affairs due to the CVC engagement and putting in a lot of
standing of the technologies embedded. We have a spin-off expertise from his industry, the parent company increasingly
company at the moment. Would you like to help us out with gains interest. Though being engaged in additive manufacturing
the market analyses and the business plan? and printed electronics, the leading hardware manufacturer
had neglected the desktop segment that is now characterized
Ann and Brian agree this offer fits their practically-oriented by exponential growth. As founding member, Brian still holds a
master thesis proposal well. 30% stake in the company. Brian agrees to sell 3Del with him
Brian wakes up. It is cold, dark and he has been in this remaining in a board position for a very large undisclosed sum
situation twice this week. Only 3 h of sleep. It is 6.30 am on the higher than USD 100 million. An interviewer (I) from a leading
23rd of November 2016. He must have run out of electricity newspaper asks Brian about the deal and his motivation.
and heating credit once again. His last prototype, 3Del, took all
his savings and a first round of venture capital has also been B: I'm not nancially-oriented. I love creating the future. In my
fully allocated and spent. new startup, I want to create a ubiquitous programming
language that is easy to use. I'm convinced that everybody will
B: How to pay the wages of my two employees next week? have a 3Del in the future and I want everybody to participate.
Sleepless nights. At least his phone is still working. Brian I: But electricity shut-downs will not be an issue anymore?
checks his bank account. Brian, given your expertise, what would be your market
outlook?
B: Still nothing.
B: Well, with base technology and standards being about to be
After graduating from the university and working for the established, world-wide prevalence of fabcreators is estimated
research institute spin-off for two years subsequent to his to be between 20 and 30 million by 2023. In addition, market
final thesis, Brian decided to follow his passion: 3D printing. size for printed consumer electronics is estimated to reach 1
In the same year, at a leading technology conference in trillion by 2023.5 The technology is highly disruptive and
London, he met two like-minded graduates who shared his transforms a multitude of markets. Intelligent paper, toys,
vision on the next generation of desktop 3D printers that electric tooth brushes, watches and of course audio players can
can also print simple electronics. Brian had relocated to be printed. This change in consumer technology enables totally
share an apartment with his colleagues. The team was hard new business models. New ventures are mushrooming every-
working, spending day and night in their lab, and striving where. We can observe electronic commerce at its perfection.
for a 3D printer with uncompromising precision. 3Del
started as an attempt to unite the best features of all I: The way you've founded 3Del and your way of thinking is so
available 3D printers available by 2014 without violating novel. What is more, you've gained a high reputation as a
any patent. Brian, the CEO of the start-up, decided to name distinguished futurist and various leading magazines featured
the prototype 3Del (3D electronics). The first attempts were
frustrating and somehow disillusioning, as durability of
3Del allowed a maximum of 5 music players being printed
5
before it broke down. It took them so much effort to Although this gure is ctitious in the context of our story line, a report
publised by the MicKinsey Global Institute estimates the sales of printed
optimize the raw material ink allocation a true bottleneck consumer products at $4 trillion by 2025. Source: Disruptive technologies:
in printing CE. Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy.
Brian receives a message on his phone. One missed call. McKinsey Global Institute, May 2013.
M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114 109
you as one of the technology visionaries of the decade. What's online shopping this way. Virtual reality seems like opening
the next big thing in technology? up a lot of opportunities for us.
B: First of all, it's not me who founded 3Del. It wouldn't have Robert encourages Ann to continue working on this idea
been possible without my co-founders Hannah and Matt. and to try to mobilize more resources. Even Alexander, who is
Secondly, it will be less about technology and more about in charge of the entire online shopping system and a known
how we interact with it. Social production will be huge. critic of changes to the system, is highly interested. Over
There will be a growing community of small vendors, when several months, the group works on fictional usage scenarios.
products can be distributed as source code and are increasingly Ann has picked up these skills in her entrepreneurship edu-
produced at consumer premises. This will enable new business cation at the university. The measures taken range from
opportunities everywhere with a time to market of virtually designing potential future user scenarios, test-buying in virtual
zero. Design will increasingly evolve in online social networks stores and designing a mock-up online shop that allows a high
instead of in design labs and new ideas can be implemented at a degree of user participation in virtual shopping rooms. Within
glance. months, Ann's project gains C-level attention. They come up
with several implications in terms of how the online store can
After graduation and 2 years in the spin-off company, leverage VR to a maximum of futuristic user experience.
Ann can now apply her design skills while satisfying her By 2022, Ann's company has become the leading VR player in
curiosity for new technologies. Her first position is in the user the market and traditional online shops play a subordinated role.
interface (UI) department that belongs to an online retailer. Everybody in her firm is convinced that VR is revolutionizing
Ann is responsible for online customer usage patterns and her e-commerce and the way we live. Ann's team has tried to
goal lies in developing the most convenient and user-friendly anticipate how society will interact in the upcoming decade and
experience. Ann's analytic but still highly creative approach is what are the most significant technological advancements. A
well-received in the team and within 3 years, she becomes vice rapid adoption of desktop 3D printers is one of these major
president of UI related issues. She has developed an excellent advancements. Accordingly, all new shopping platforms plan on
sense for what her customers desire and that virtual shopping VR being the dominant way of shopping. To become the market
journeys offer a lot of potential. In a board presentation she leader in e-commerce, one has to take into account substantial
outlines: risk these days. Ann is convinced that they have understood the
context of future online interaction very well and are ahead of
A: Data strongly suggest that our customers want to be taken the curve.
on a virtual shopping journey. They want to have the in-shop
experience online.
4. Discussion and framework
She has prepared several slides.
4.1. Implications
A: How do you think our customers will buy 10 years from
now? At the beginning, 3D printers were a gadget for tech-
nology enthusiasts that used open source platforms to
Ann guides through several scenarios. Every team member further develop functionality. Following our scenario,
can grasp her enthusiasm and passion for the topic. fabcreation has fundamentally revolutionized production
and the way we live and interact as a society. What is
A: Virtual reality is an emerging technology. Imagine customers more, the world as we depict it in 2033 with VR being
will use the online world like a room they can walk into. the dominant way of how people shop and interact and
e-object being around clearly shows how context mat-
Ann outlines the technology, its capabilities, and her vision ters. Going virtual has fundamentally changed how
for the future of the online retail world. people shop and interact. Social production is a concept
that would not work nowadays. A new method of pro-
A: Imagine now, they wouldn't have to wait till their products duction opens up an entirely new market in terms of
are shipped but they can produce them at home. customizable source code being traded instead of final-
ized products. What is more, it utilizes new sources of supply
She provides them with an updated version of the SFP she for raw materials. Last but not least, fabcreation as we envision
developed with Brian back in the entrepreneurship class and it creates an entirely new order of industrial organization
blends it with a clear connection to state of the art digital dominated by small firms and entrepreneurs as opposed to
fabrication technology and virtual reality. She addresses the conglomerates. How Ann and Brian advance fabcreation in
advances of a Los Angeles-based company projecting holo- the story vignette connects to a possible vision of how SFP
grams into the living room.6 Robert, the vice president for can lead to actual fiction transformation into real product or
sales, is convinced: service prototypes. According to our understanding, context
lies at the core of SFP to anticipate proper product design
R: Wow, we expected you would present us some data and technology needs for future settings. Being ahead of the
analytics. This is impressive. I have never thought about curve cannot rest on past context and we will further
explicate this line of thought in the following section and
6
ProVision (http://provision.tv). derive two resulting frameworks.
110 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
increases drastically and what is more, products can be tailored sensible. To our understanding, radical SFP is the sweet spot of
to individual needs at relatively little investment of time and the method.
financial resources. Even small quantities can be produced and
ideas can be experimented with. Social production and 5.1. Future research implications
being able to customize products will provide a more
distinct personal connection to the CE product. We provide a context prototype and technology prototype
The paper discusses SFP as a tool for technology develop- perspective, which we want to put up to debate in future
ment through the creative elaboration on two distinct but yet research on SFP. What is more, we have made a first attempt to
strongly interconnected dimensions: The SF technology proto- classify SFP into a typology, which calls for future work
type and the SF context prototype (Fig. 5). We can observe from critically assessing this approach and consolidating existent
our Fabcreation example that even though parts of the literature according to the criteria suggested. Our typology of
technology (3D printing, printed electronics) has long been SFP calls for a more integrative approach towards the method
assigned a high impact, its fiction transformation only proceeds in emerging research. According to our literature research, the
gradually rather than rapidly. A possible reason might be that method is more and more evolving and calls for more
the context for the technology to flourish has not been consensus. Our typology of SFP allows for a classification of
established, yet. We propose that SFP directly addresses this literature which has been developed so far. Clustering the
challenge. Focus is set on pure creativity leveraged to shape the literature will help to further advance the method significantly.
future. Usually, our thinking is framed by the past, as we are
constantly reflecting. In SFP, problems can be anticipated even 5.2. Limitations
before a real prototype exists. We argue that most value can be
derived from SFP, if the prototypes are of the radical kind and We cannot simply predict the future. It is as simple as that.
both incorporate the product as well as the context dimension. Thus, SFP beyond what we classify as short-term SFP, is highly
Our theoretical contribution underlines that entrepreneurial speculative as soon as we introduce a context perspective in the
opportunities are not solely discovered because people rest on more distant future. Accordingly, we have to be careful about
what they know from their experience but are highly dependent these predictions and regard them as inspiration. Neverthe-
on the context in which they are regarded. This applies less, SFP is highly beneficial in visioning and being constantly
especially to those opportunities that have a game changing engaged in thinking about the future. A core limitation to our
character or, in Schumpeterian terms, are highly disequilibrating study is that our suggested frameworks are indicative and not
[27]. This notion is supported by findings that cognitive limits yet empirically validated.
and knowledge specialization prevent entrepreneurs from
identifying the complete set of opportunities enabled by a Appendix A
given technology [32,45]. Hence, we propose that entrepre-
neurial opportunities need to be regarded in their future context Appendix A.1. Sample characteristics
in order to be discovered given their enabling technology.
In terms of our practical contribution, we have followed the
underlying assumption that innovative products are success
factors for outcomes like financial return, competitive advantage
or corporate survival (e.g. [4648]). Thus, we anticipate that
organizations constantly amend their model of corporate
innovation and product development to cope with increasing
customer requirements, faster changing environments, and
shorter product life cycles. Given this high level of dynamism
and change, methods of anticipating the future need to deal with
an increasing degree of uncertainty and envisage, what is not yet
foreseeable based on science fact. Science fiction prototyping Fig. A1. Sample characteristics: experts by organizational type note: n = 68;
constitutes such a method. Most explicitly, we should think source: FP7 project Diginova - Innovation for Digital Fabrication.
about SFP in a more strategic fashion and our frameworks in
Figs. 6 and 7 provide a solid and structured basis to do so.
Overall, it is important to note that SFP is not only a tool Appendix B. Biographical endnotes
for large corporations. Also small firms and start-ups that can
equally apply it to make a case for the necessity of their Appendix B.1. Michael Potstada
product in a future context. Technology entrepreneurs in the
biotechnology or material science area use fictional outlooks, Michael Potstada is a PhD candidate in management at the
which are based on their current science fact to illustrate the University of Mannheim and associated with the Graduate School
potential of their innovation to investors and first cus- of Economics and Social Sciences (GESS). In 2012, he was a
tomers. It is an adequate tool, as new ventures are typically visiting scholar at Scancor at Stanford Universty. What is
in the earliest development process, often represented by a more, he is a project manager at InnovationLab GmbH, an
patented technology innovation paired with commerciali- innovation company founded by industry representatives,
zation ideas. In our paper, we open up the field for future such as BASF, Roche, Merck, SAP, and academic institutions
investigation and integration of SFP in entrepreneurship like the University of Heidelberg and the University of
and consider an integration into entrepreneurship education as Mannheim. He is participating in a FP7 consortium and
114 M. Potstada, J. Zybura / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 84 (2014) 101114
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