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Is 3D Printing Disruptive Technology?

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Infographic: Is 3d Printing Disruptive Technology

Is 3d Printing Disruptive Technology

Technology moves at an extremely fast pace. However, particularly when it comes to adoption, technology seems to only inch forward sometimes. 3d printing will likely revolutionize the way we prototype and manufacture, but it takes some time for industry and individuals to get on board.

The above infographic makes the point that right now we are only partially into the typical adoption curve. It took about 35 years to reach an average of one personal computer per person in the US. While it is not statistically accurate to superimpose that same adoption curve on the 3d printing market, it does give us some insight.

At that rate, it looks like there would be one 3d printer for every five people in the US by 2023 or so. By 2040, we’d have nearly full adoption. In other words: it takes time for a technology to truly be disruptive. We’ll likely see 3d printing fall off the map in the hype cycle, and re-discover it when it is ready to conquer the latter part of the adoption curve.

It’s hard to predict revolutions. In 1943 Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM, boldly predicted “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”. Not a bad guess, but he was only off by tens of billions of devices.

Original graphic from: Farnell


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Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

In this infographic, we map out internet usage by global region based on the latest data from the World Bank.

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Map showing internet usage by region.

Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Digital technologies have become an integral part of our daily lives, transforming communications, business, health, education, and more. Yet, billions of people around the world are still offline, and digital advancement has been uneven.

Here, we map internet usage by region based on data from the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023.

Digitalization Has Been Uneven

According to the World Bank, between 2018 and 2022, the world gained 1.5 billion new internet users.

In 2020 alone, the share of the global population using the internet increased by 6% (500 million people), marking the highest jump in history. India, in particular, has seen high rates of adoption. For example, in 2018, only 20% of Indians used the internet. By 2022, this percentage had grown to more than 50%.

RegionIndividuals using the internet (% of population)
East Asia & Pacific74
Europe & Central Asia87
Latin America & the Caribbean76
Middle East & North Africa77
North America92
South Asia42
Sub-Saharan Africa34

However, the progress of digitalization has been uneven both within and across countries.

In 2022, one-third of the global population remained offline, with parts of Asia and Africa still experiencing very low rates of internet usage. For instance, more than half of businesses in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal reportedly lack internet connection.

According to the World Bank’s report, when fast internet becomes available, the probability of an individual being employed increases by up to 13%, and total employment per firm increases by up to 22%. Moreover, firm exports nearly quadruple with the availability of fast internet. Across Africa, 3G coverage has been associated with a reduction in extreme poverty, with reductions of 10% seen in Senegal and 4.3% in Nigeria.

Curious to learn more about the internet? Check out this animated chart that shows the most popular web browsers since 1994.

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