In the video below, Scott Summit, co-founder of Bespoke Innovations, explains the current state and future potential of 3D printing. He talks about architecture, jewelry, medical, and biological applications, among other topics. He also discusses business models of existing 3D printing players, such as Shapeways and Freedom of Creation. The video was recorded at Singularity University.

A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from October 23 to October 26.

MarketWatch blogger T.S. Troth recently published an article which contemplated the Singularity as the next great industrial revolution. And what technology was called out as the bellwether for the Singularity? 3D printing, of course.

Enter, the Singularity. Ray Kurzweil, who brought this term into the lexicon, defines the Singularity as a time when machine intelligence will reach such a level as to replace human engineers with machines smart enough to make other machines.  Many dispute the exact timing of the Singularity’s arrival, but it is coming. The bellwether technology and harbinger of the Singularity’s arrival, as well as the canary in the coal mine for the Ricardian comparative advantages reached by way of cheap labor, is 3D Printing.

From ashtrays to airplanes, 3D Printing is the game-changing technology that will bring manufacturing home to U.S. shores after oh-so-many (painful) years abroad. No more will manufacturing be held hostage by totalitarian, suppressive regimes capable of paying their workers a pittance.

I’m assuming the vast majority of MarketWatch’s readership already knows precisely what 3D Printing is, but for the minority who do not, 3D Printing is, as defined by Wikipedia, “a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model.” And, to borrow a turn of phrase from the kids, it is freaking rad!

Read Troth’s full essay on the Singularity.

Forbes contributor Vivek Wadhwa explains why he believes this will be the most innovative decade in history. Wadhwa is Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University. Here is his general view:

Why am I so optimistic? Because of the wide assortment of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging. They are enabling small teams to do what was once only possible for governments and large corporations. These exponential technologies will help us solve many of humanity’s grand challenges, including energy, education, water, food, and health.

Among the technologies he cites as game changing this decade, 3D printing has a main feature:

In an emerging field called digital manufacturing, 3D printers enable the production of physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. These printers use something like a toothpaste tube of plastic or other material held vertically in an X-Y plotter that squirts out thin layers of tiny dots of material that build up, layer by layer, to produce a 3D replica of the computer-generated design. The cheapest 3D printers, which print rudimentary objects, currently sell for between $500 and $1000. Soon, we will have printers for this price that can print toys and household goods. Within this decade, we will see 3D printers doing the small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. In the next decade, we can expect local manufacture of the majority of goods; 3D printing of buildings and electronics; and the rise of a creative class empowered by digital making.

Other technologies Wadhwa mentions include genome sequencing, nanotechnology, micro-electrical-mechanical systems, and artificial intelligence.

Read the full post at Forbes.

Vivek Wadhwa photo by BAIA used under Creative Commons license.