{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"HIIG","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/","title":"What Do Consumers Use 3D Printers For? &#8211; HIIG","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ZhFCaiXaXM\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/publication\/what-do-consumers-use-3d-printers-for\/\">What Do Consumers Use 3D Printers For?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/publication\/what-do-consumers-use-3d-printers-for\/embed\/#?secret=ZhFCaiXaXM\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;What Do Consumers Use 3D Printers For?&#8221; &#8212; HIIG\" data-secret=\"ZhFCaiXaXM\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","description":"Many authors attribute 3D printing technologies with the potential to revolutionize the production process of physical goods. However, insights on what users actually print in 3D remain in high demand. For the first time, 3D printing allows us to study how user innovators diffuse their creations on a large scale. To better understand this, we examined the world\u2019s largest 3D printing platform called Thingiverse. We examined 12,616 individual objects, which accounted for 50 percent of the platform\u2019s total downloads. We found that most objects belonged to the so-called category \u20183D Printing\u2019 and that the growth rates of the \u2018Household\u2019, \u2018Models\u2019, and \u2018Toys & Games\u2019 categories outpaced all other main categories. We argue that user innovators in 3D printing do not only innovate for the reasons present in theory. Besides the user innovation that serves a niche market and the user innovation that responds to consumer demands which are not yet known to firms, the activities on Thingiverse suggest a third form of user innovation. We label this form of innovation \u2018substitutional design\u2019. They are mere substitutes for known and available solutions, but innovative in their creation and production processes. Lastly, we investigated the complexity of the designs available on Thingiverse, exposing that \u2014 contrary to theory \u2014 designs tend to become simpler as the platform grows."}