Business

Leading I.P. Specialist Launches 3D Printing Consultancy Transcend3D

As the relatively low number of 3D printing business consultancies begins to increase, the global strategy consulting firm Transcend 3D has officially launched. It’s a year now since Charlene Flick, Esq. etched a brilliant article about Intellectual Property (IP) here on 3DPI. With a peerless background of experience in Intellectual Property among those working within the wider 3D printing industry, Ms. Flick has established Transcend 3D as a 3D printing consultancy to watch.

Much has been said, and is being said, about 3D printing and IP. There are schools of thought that see the potential of prosumer or desktop 3D printing as a challenge to the existing paradigm of IP, urging the introduction of additional laws and stepped-up enforcement to ensure the protection of ownership of products and the ideas that they are founded upon. There are also schools of thought that suggest that shifts in modes of thought regarding IP for 3D printing may be a good thing for the individual consumer and / or businesses small and large: more open source hardware, more Creative Commons licenses for 3D printables, and so forth. Examples from this school would include the ‘everything free’ thinkers, as well as a range of approaches encouraging more open licensing to garner a wider audience and increased market share.

While Ms. Flick does not advocate for one particular type of IP reform or in favour of a specific future model for this dynamic area of law, she makes clear that the “spirit” of intellectual property law is likely to survive the inevitable legal ambiguity associated with the advent of ubiquitous 3D printing as it has done in the past with other new technologies. She argues that even the most paradigm-shifting companies have to comply with today’s laws, regulations and international treaties; those who ignore today’s IP realities do so at their own peril and at the risk of their future survival.

A former Special Advisor for Intellectual Property at the US State Department during President Clinton’s Administration, Ms. Flick stands as one of the few who could offer such a wealth of knowledge, insight and understanding of IP. In her the article last year she articulated a message that “For decades, “content” and “conduit” have been engaged in a delicate and yet deeply symbiotic dance” ― that ultimately the direction of Intellectual Property for 3D printing technologies is probably something resembling business-as-usual, after-all: “Why would the company draw the line in protecting its intellectual property at 3D Printing?”

Ms. Flick has been a leading speaker creating an impression at a wide range of 3D printing expos and gatherings, and even established the 3D Printing Entrepreneurs Meetup in her home town of New York. Below you can catch a few moments with the Intellectual Property specialist courtesy of  C.E. Week T.V.

The bounds of Transcend3D extends beyond IP too. She is forging a full advisory service, a strategic consulting firm focused upon 3D printing technologies across all the many sectors they touch, for new enterprises and for long established companies, aiming to ‘mitigate risks and harness opportunities; to translate complexities into workable solutions that contribute to profitability; to present potentials and possibilities; and to help you navigate the “rules of the road” for today’s marketplace and beyond.’

transcend3d 3d printing

The consultancy offers a wide range of pragmatic commercial strategic guidance to help clients:

  • Understand the 3D Printing Ecosystem, from hardware to software to materials and processes;
  • Harness this emerging technology to reach your business objectives;
  • Strategize how best to integrate this technology to reach profitability;
  • Navigate the complex and evolving national and global regulatory landscape that could represent risks to your business;
  • Evaluate your intellectual property and assist in creating a plan to mitigate risk;
  • Determine how best to expand internationally and exploit foreign markets;
  • Assess potential competition as well as potential markets and customers;
  • Educate your executives, employees, affiliates, partners, customers, and policy makers to ensure a coordinated strategy for best results;

Notwithstanding the longevity of the pre-eminent consultancy in the 3D printing sector, Wohlers Associates, it seems the time may be right for consultancy practices to flourish as 3D printing permeates ever more sectors and ever more companies seek to adopt this range of technologies. 3D Printing Industry is offering the first in a series of reports by another informed and experienced Photizo consultancy and this will only expand.