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Are crowdsourcing and 3D printing set to revolutionize society?

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crowdsourcingIn the online world the borders are blurred. Experts from different parts of the world can come together and work on a project, citizens can invest and support innovative ideas on crowdsourcing web sites, and objects can be designed in one country and instantly printed in another. What could be the impact of such technologies on the economy? European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment panel (STOA) will discuss the issue today from 14h CET. Follow the event live (link below).

Some of the questions that experts will raise and try to answer during this afternoon's STOA workshop relate to crowdsourcing and 3D printing, but what exactly are they?

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people - particularly from the online community. Crowd-funding on the other hand is the funding of a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via sites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

3D printing or additive manufacturing is the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. Thanks to rapid developments in 3D printing, it is now possible to build cheaper objects using much less material possessing physical properties impossible to obtain otherwise. Should 3D printing technology continue to develop it will be possible to print objects in 3D form “just in time” and “locally” using digital designs co-created by many users, and downloaded from the internet. Labour, transport and storage costs could be reduced dramatically.

The long term combination of all these technologies has the potential to revolutionize industry and the global economy. To find out more, tune into STOA's hearing on the matter from 14h on 27 January.

For more information: 

Watch live, 27 January, from 14:00 CET

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