Page 106 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

444 THE NAI PROFILE

T&I: 3D printing has spurred the Maker Movement, exponentially. I think some people now believe that
a highly influential movement with which you have dance has evolved more in the last three years than
been often associated and even cited as a pioneer. in the last 3,000 years. That kind of accelerated inno-
Looking ahead, what do you envision the long-term vation, where you can have an open environment, is
impact will be of this new culture of makers? pretty powerful.
DeSimone: You know, I think what’s amazing is that T&I: I hadn’t intended to ask this, but, in the wake
you get to tap the ingenuity of a broad range of people of the 2016 election, the potential negative effects of
who get exposed to what you’re doing. Generating these new technologies have been widely discussed,
a whole new platform for making things—where and some people are evincing concerns about how
historically unmakeable things are now makeable— these technologies are affecting jobs, especially jobs
really opens up amazing amounts of innovation. I such as those in the manufacturing sector. Do you
can’t tell you how many examples we’re seeing now think about that? What kinds of jobs do you think
where a part that did some function, whether it’s in rise up to take the place of those traditional manu-
a mixer or blender or a multi-part valve in a car or a facturing jobs?
component on a drone or a medical device, used to DeSimone: There’s a couple of ways to think about
be an assembly of five or six or seven parts because this. I’m a pretty optimistic person. I think the ability
each part was what was makeable but the assembly to make complex things has been in the hands of very
wasn’t. Now, it becomes one part, and it fundamen- few entities over the years, and it’s really been the rich
tally looks different because it’s now complex and and powerful corporations that have had the capacity
unmakeable by traditional manufacturing techniques. and the wherewithal to make amazing things. This is
We usher in that kind of ingenuity, and the parts because the traditional tooling to manufacture parts
become better. Pressure drop across a valve can go is incredibly expensive and cost prohibitive for most.
to zero, and circulating pumps for that fluid can be If, all of a sudden, complexity is now free and the
much lower rated and cheaper, for example. And, all ability to make complex things is more democratized,
of a sudden, you get cost savings that are dramatic, then many more people have the ability to produce
with performance going way up at the same time. So, parts—for example, by going to a local service bureau,
it’s almost like a Moore’s law kind of thing, where cost which is sort of like the Kinko’s of 3D printing. With
goes down and performance goes up. In fact, I like more people getting access to amazing tools that can
that analogy a lot. Cost goes down and performance turn ideas into physical objects that create value,
goes up; it’s got a Moore’s law kind of feel to it when and also having the provenance associated with
you can start making complex things easily. those products and the authenticity traced back to
T&I: That puts a lot of power in the hands of indi- the inventor—these are amazing sorts of things that
vidual innovators. can be really powerful. I think entire new business
models are going to emerge that are going to benefit
DeSimone: Yes, there was this really cool TED talk individuals and empower individuals to make their
by the curator of TED [Chris Anderson] where he ideas worthy of investment and commerce.
talked about crowd-accelerated innovation. His story
was about the rapid evolution of dance through kids T&I: Now that you have been leading Carbon for a
posting YouTube videos of themselves that others while, have you had time to reflect on the relationship
around the world would then view and try to top. So, between the entrepreneurial path and the academic
a kid somewhere in Asia may post a video and then one? Are there different keys to success in each arena?
a kid in Africa would then say, “Hey, that’s a great DeSimone: There’s nothing like sitting in your faculty
dance, but I can beat that kid’s dance.” And with this office with the smell of books around you thinking
happening across multiple continents in real-time, deep thoughts—of course, that’s not actually the way
with thousands and thousands of people partici- things go! What I would say is there’s a lot of com-
pating and putting their own videos up there, new monality—at least in the way we are leading Carbon.
skills are showcased, taught, learned, and invented There is a lot of commonality between leading in a
so rapidly that it accelerates the evolution of dance university setting and leading in the private sector.