EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Open source software has sparked collaboration and innovation among developers, allowing each to build off of others’ efforts. The problem in some people’s view, however, is that it also leaves itself open to possible cybersecurity issues. Proprietary software has often been viewed as having less risk because it has staff dedicated to quality and assurance–at least theoretically.

Now, 3D printing, which has been a closed platform for the past 10 years, is hovering on the cusp of becoming open, in the interest of driving innovation. As Alessandro Di Fiore cautions in Harvard Business Review, “Hackers can and do already cause significant digital damage in the form of computer crashes, data loss, the shutdown of websites and servers, and the interruption of important services, among other things. With 3D printing, however, the threats move into the physical world.”

Read more about where 3D printing is heading in Harvard Business Review.