In our most recent report, SmarTech estimates that the market for medical models will be worth $45 million by 2017 and nearly $286 million by 2023. The medical community continues to take notice of the value that 3D printed models can bring to the healthcare sector. Profitable opportunities reveal themselves to companies that can provide 3D printed solutions to fill long-standing gaps in demand.

An especially interesting – if slightly macabre – example of how value can be created in this area has been demonstrated recently at the University of Malaysia, where 3D printed skull models are being created. Vicknes Waran and his colleagues are using 3D printers to create realistic skull models for practicing the removal of brain tumors. Waran and his team layer 3D printed materials with differing densities to more accurately re-create the tissue layers of the human skull.

Realistic skull models are welcome tools for medical educators. Cadavers skulls are costly and have a limited supply.  Meanwhile, Waran estimates that each skull only costs around $600 to print. These skull models may ultimately serve as substitute goods for traditional cadaver skulls.

Waran’s skull models continue the trend of 3D printing being used to address more complex medical modeling applications. 2013 also saw rapid ascendency of medical cutting guides and complex cardiac modeling services from Materialise’s HeartPrint service. Even the most optimistic of analyses have been surprised by the rapid adoption of 3D printing technology for these purposes.

For information on how 3D printing will affect the medical and dental industries, see SmarTech’s report “3D Printing in Medical and Dental Markets: An Opportunity Analysis and Ten-Year Forecast”

On January 13th, Rainbow Coral Corp. and N3D announced a joint venture partnership to develop bio-printing solutions for drug toxicology screening.  It will join the likes of Organovo and AngioMix Inc. on the growing list of companies striving to offer what will amount to the first bio-printed commercial product.

n3D’s Bio-Assembler system uses magnetic nanoparticles and magnetic drives to form cells into 3D structures. N3D’s technology shows every sign of a viable alternative to other bio-printing processes that can create 3D structures, such as BioPlotting or BioLP.

Seeing another player enter this market is an exciting development for bio-printing. It affirms the potential of the market for this kind of product, while at the same time introduce much needed competition to the bio-printing sector.

In my previous blog, I summed up what SmarTech believes were the five biggest themes of the 3D printing industry in 2013. There are many impending events in the coming year that will determine the overall size and shape of the global 3D printing industry. Here are the four questions we want answered in 2014.

1. HP in 3DP and Beyond — Time To Bring Out The Big Guns?

In November 2013, HP announced it intended to get involved in the 3D printing space. To what capacity and when is yet to be revealed, but there are now reports of 3D printers whirring around in basement labs behind black sheets.

HP’s announcement begs the larger question of when and where other giant tech companies fit into the 3D printing narrative. This goes for material manufacturers and large retailers as well. When and where will they choose to stake their claim? Will it be through their own efforts or acquisition?

2.  Prosumer Oasis? Or Mirage?

MakerBot surprised the market when they announced $11.6 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2013. A number of other prominent personal 3D printer manufactures have also released printers in this $2,500 – $3,500 price range, such as 3D Systems’ Cube X, and FormLabs Form 1.

In our eyes, this is the first generation of personal 3D printers that you can actually do meaningful things with. The big question is how will the market receive these new printers? Will they embrace new technology? Or will the price and technological learning curve prove to be too steep for the masses?

3.  Will New Opportunities “Material”ize?

More applications have been enabled on larger, more powerful 3D printers. For example, improved metal 3D printers open up large opportunities in orthopedic implants. The question is how large must the benefits be to encourage manufacturers to take on the switching costs of these newly-enabled 3D printing solutions?

4.  Bringing Business Home?

With rising labor prices in emerging economies, there is a new interest in bringing manufacturing back over to domestic markets, both to speed product delivery and integrate value chains.

Is this mostly an academic hypothetical, or a real trend? Is 3D printing fuel to the fire? Or will the inability to scale 3D printing production to large volumes stymie its overall effect?