Another dimension of digital: 3D printing and intellectual property in Asia

3D printing has emerged onto the global stage as a new and potentially highly disruptive manufacturing technology, with an impact predicted by some to be as revolutionary as the Internet. However, much of the existing research from humanities, arts and social sciences disciplines concerns 3D printing in North America and Western Europe, with limited literature on 3D printing’s trajectory in other parts of the world, including Asia. In this chapter, the relationship between 3D printing and other digital technologies will be explained from a Western perspective, before we focus specifically on Asian developments, taking 3D printing in India and China as case studies. We will look at the approaches in these countries to innovation and intellectual property in general, how the relationship is playing out in the 3D printing space and the extent to which the regional - and global - experience is converging or diverging.