Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab & Nicholas Davis & Satya Nadella

Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab & Nicholas Davis & Satya Nadella

Author:Klaus Schwab & Nicholas Davis & Satya Nadella [Schwab, Klaus & Davis, Nicholas & Nadella, Satya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944835149
Amazon: 1944835148
Publisher: World Economic Forum
Published: 2018-01-10T23:00:00+00:00


Bioprinting, the printing of living tissue, is also advancing steadily. Entire organs will likely be printed on demand in the future. This will raise ethical and social issues, as the technology will initially probably be affordable only to a wealthy minority, widening inequalities in health and longevity. Even more so, the potential for consumers or criminals to hack the human genome will require extensive study and regulation. When the public wields digital-driven analog tools to transform the human body into a work of art, or a production machine, or even a weapon, society must face critical issues related to our biology as material objects.

Industrialization in the 21st century

3D printing is set to transform production and consumption systems, as well as global value chains. It is a technology being pioneered by companies based in the Global North, with most 3D printing production kept in-country. In 2012, for example, 40% of 3D printing systems were installed in North America, 30% in Europe, 26% in Asia-Pacific and only 4% in other locations.149 In some cases, impacts of 3D printing could be relatively modest, complementing current value chains by applying the technology at various stages of production. In others, it could be far more disruptive, with 3D printed products completely replacing low-skill, labor-intensive and low-value added functions.150 If this results in the large-scale reshoring of production to advanced countries, developing economies could find industrialization strategies based on labor-intensive low-cost manufacturing rendered obsolete, leaving them with growing populations of unemployed youth.

The current legal and regulatory frameworks supporting the production, distribution and use of goods and services must also be revisited. For example, if products are 3D printed locally by a 3D printing shop or by an individual consumer, who bears the liability for product defects: the supplier of the digital template for the product, the manufacturer of the 3D printer or the person who does the 3D printing?151 What intellectual property regimes should govern the ownership and cross-border transmission of the data needed to 3D print a product? How should value added tax and tariff systems adapt?

A final issue that requires multistakeholder collaboration and policy consideration is security. The ability to 3D print weapons encourages proliferation rather than control because individuals and non-state actors can easily distribute the digital templates necessary to print the weapons rather than disseminate the weapons themselves. Already, enthusiasts can 3D print guns and, as the technology becomes more sophisticated, they will be able to incorporate complex materials into 3D printed weapons, including biological tissues, cells and chemicals.

Policies for Maturing an Additive Manufacturing Industry

By Phill Dickens, Professor of Manufacturing Technology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

The barriers to exploit the technologies of additive manufacturing are many. They are common worldwide and require intentional strategies and policies to be solved. This work has already begun in the United Kingdom.

The Strategy for Additive Manufacturing being developed in the United Kingdom has identified seven barriers that are common worldwide:

Issue

(Summary of common perceived barriers)



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.