The Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a Dutch speaking university located in Brussels, Belgium, has released a series of 3D printing surveys. The surveys were composed by Wesly Jacobs. Jacobs has featured previously in an article at 3DPI, 3D Printing From A Students Perspective, about his student / start-up team’s research into 3D printing business models. The 3D Printing: Customer Survey and 3D Printing: Business Survey are relatively concise, but in-depth. Each covers a variety of angles regarding a number of elements, from preferences for online 3D model platforms to levels of participant knowledge about three-dimensional printing.
Wesly explained: “On purpose, we made both more general in their set-up and more simplified, so that it remains comprehensible for non-3DP-specialists. We have tried not to make them too long and included an incentive for both parties to fill in… Basically, on the one hand the target of this general survey would be a follow-up of the 3DP market on a consumer-level for our personal research… and on the other a reality check on the contents of our own business model. It is in our plans to start realising this business model after the market research, est. as from February 2015 onward.”
Both of the surveys will provide pertinant feedback for the team and the university. At this nascent stage of development for additive manufacturing and 3D printing surveys such as this, alongside the more established industry analysis by way of experts such as Econolyst, and user analysis by platforms such as 3DHubs, provide much needed data to orientate just where the consumer, prosumer and producer levels of knowledge and interest stand. For the industry itself such, research will continue to prove intrinsic and inherently direct parts of the market, from the start-up to the established venture.
