Supporting the SME commercialization process: the case of 3D printing platforms

ABSTRACT

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) traditionally face many obstacles to innovation commercialization – due to resource limitations, insufficient access to financial capital, etc. This paper explores the way in which 3D printing platforms support SMEs during the innovation development and commercialization process. The online marketplace supports SMEs by providing the resources, knowledge, and structures required to assist in innovation development and expedite the commercialization process. These supports are – (1) Creation, (2) Provision, and (3) Facilitation. In terms of creation, the online marketplace provides access to external skills, stimulating the creativity of innovators and enabling low-cost prototype production. Where provision is concerned, the online marketplace enables users to access designs, technology, and knowledge previously unavailable to them, in addition to disseminating new ideas. Finally, for facilitation, the platforms act as a mediator, facilitating transactions between parties, providing a safe and trusted marketplace with strong institutional supports. This study identifies the role online marketplaces play in SMEs’ innovation commercialization.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation commercialization
• 3D printing
• SME
• online marketplace
• innovation development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Grace Sheila Walsh is a research associate at the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She completed her PhD on the topic of business failure in the information and communication technology sector. Her research to date focuses on technology start-ups; it incorporates constructs from psychology and sociology into studies on entrepreneurship, firm performance, and business venturing.

Justyna Przychodzen holds a Doctorate degree in Economics and a Master's degree in Management. She is author of a research monograph on corporate innovative activities as well as articles in top academic journals on the greening of industry, connections between a quality of natural environment and economic growth and international environmental management. She has been appointed as Visiting Research Fellow at the Yale School of Management (US) and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool (UK). Currently she cooperates with the University of Liverpool and serves as visiting professor for a number of universities in Europe.

Wojciech Przychodzen is an assistant professor of finance at the Deusto Business School, Spain. His research mainly concentrates on corporate social responsibility, eco-innovation and corporate sustainability, as well as their relation to financial and stock market performance. He has served as a visiting professor and was visiting research fellow at several different universities around the world. His work has been published in leading scholarly journals such as the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Ethics: A European Review and Journal of Behavioral Finance.