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The Entrepreneurs From Academia Reshaping Manufacturing And Supply Chains

This article is more than 2 years old.

Wikifactory offers a new way of designing and producing any physical product collaboratively, from anywhere. It's a platform with a computer-aided design (CAD) system where designers, engineers, and manufacturers can view and discuss almost any 3D model, all in one place. They now have over 85,000 users making more than 4,500 physical products from across 190 countries. Wikifactory is being used for both open-source collaboration and private proprietary product innovation by individuals, startups and large companies. Projects include robotics, electric vehicles, agri-tech and sustainable energy appliances, such as a low-cost drone for reforestation called Dronecoria and parts for the first solar-powered car by Sono Motors.

Unlike most startups, you could say that Wikifactory started in the pages of academic research and an economics book; it has been years in the making. It still focuses on solving a problem, as businesses should. Instead of working on a customer niche, however, Nicolai Peitersen and his co-founders aim to bring about systemic change by opening up product development to everyone, hoping to reshape manufacturing, supply chains, and ultimately society.

Making companies that have the potential for systemic change can take long-term dedication. If you want to work on a company with impact, look at the big picture, understand the core issues, bring in the right people, focus on your why, and stay part of the wider conversation.

Think about the big picture

Significant impact takes big thinking and can take time. Asking Nicolai why he started Wikifactory, he didn't start by talking about market research, a customer problem, or an idea about an app, but he brought up Max Weber, one of the most influential economic philosophers of the 20th century. Max Weber wrote about a concept often translated as "the iron cage" that described capitalism's social and bureaucratic trappings, making it difficult to change.

Nicolai believes that with the right technology and ideas, we can break past these trappings. Global manufacturing has long been at the heart of capitalism and is currently worth $35 trillion. 3D printing, often known as additive manufacturing, is on the rise and registered a compound annual growth rate of 37.4% in emerging economies. This new technology could revolutionize small batch production. Wikifactory hopes to facilitate this change which could decentralize manufacturing. What's more, additive manufacturing could help cut global energy usage by 25%.

Starting his career as an economist at the Danish Central Bank, Nicolai became a Research Economist at J.P Morgan. He then founded Kesera, a cross-disciplinary think tank, and wrote The Ethical Economy – Rebuilding Value After the Crisis. Here he explored a new social-economic value and a system where anyone can contribute to create, share and be part of that value. These ideas ultimately gave birth to Wikifactory.

Bringing in the right people

To turn these big ideas into a reality, Nicolai started working with three other co-founders: Tom Salfield, Christina Rebel and Maximilian Kampik, who were working on WikiHouse, at the time, the first project to develop low-cost, digitally fabricated homes. Tom, a pre-bitcoin pioneer who had founded OpenCoin.org and also ImpactHub, a co-working space for social entrepreneurs, hit it off immediately with Nicolai. The four founders began their research and development around five years ago and ultimately launched Wikifactory two and a half years ago.

Nicolai met his co-founders through his network and knew they were the right team as they shared his values for societal and economic change through entrepreneurial endeavors. They all also happened to share a background in political economy.

A strong shared vision to build the Internet of Production and a clear idea of the mission and values have helped the team work together and stay focused. When you want to make significant changes, having a team that shares that vision is essential.

Focus on the why               

When it comes to making decisions, the shared vision of the co-founders is essential in guiding them. They ensure that this vision is shared with the team, shareholders, and the board. They also chose trusted impact investors who share their values. That's also why they initially looked at investment from family offices.

This focus has helped shaped their product and its features. Their platform is easy to use on the web, with no add-ons required. Even if you have no 3D modeling experience, you can play with a product assembly.  Their infrastructure allows for direct and transparent communication. The ease at which you can iterate, discuss and share designs helps innovation and decentralized collaboration. The global marketplace and digital fabrication help to make those ideas a reality and for others to benefit from open-source designs.

For open-source designs, the tool remains free. This has helped create designs for more affordable lab DNA testing, such as the Mini-Centrifuge by ProgressTH in Thailand, the Rescue Airbag by Field Ready in Syria, or the small scale plastic recycling machines created by PreciousPlastic. For proprietary or confidential projects, pricing starts at just €7 per month (just over $8), making it affordable for individuals or small businesses.

The wider conversation

Reshaping global manufacturing is a big ask, and sometimes it may seem like an impossible one. Nicolai shared that the biggest challenge so far has been the complicated infrastructure that needs a lot of resources, and it was difficult to know where to start. They started with a tool for online collaboration and computer-aided design.

This is only the beginning of the challenges they will face. If Wikifactory can get their next step right to facilitate local production, then there's the possibility for massive change, but they will need a strong and far-reaching network of production to do so. What's for sure, the founders of Wikifactory continuously engage with the wider conversation and constantly ask what's next: it would seem they're in this for the long-term.

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