Creating A Collaborative Ecosystem for Additive Manufacturing Innovation in The Energy Sector

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@article{1723037,
      author = {Zagah Janet Kabor},
      title = {Creating A Collaborative Ecosystem for Additive Manufacturing Innovation in The Energy Sector},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {10},
      number = {3},
      pages = {4050-4057},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1723037.pdf},
      abstract = {The potential of Additive Manufacturing (AM) goes beyond technological innovation and involves the interaction of several actors who co-create value across the innovation chain. The energy sector is extremely capital-intensive, technical, and risk-averse towards regulatory risks. AM offers flexibility in design, cost, and sustainability, which are increasingly important given the continued disruption and pressure on global supply chains to localise manufacturing. The pace and scale of adoption within the sector is, however, held back by fragmented actions, low levels of digital interoperability and limited inter-organisational coordination. The paper suggests a new model: a Collaborative Ecosystem of Additive Manufacturing in Energy Systems (CEAM-ES), which is designed to bring together actors, including Government, Industry, Academics, and Technology Facilitators under a shared set of standards, and mutual accountability.
The framework is based on the theory of business ecosystems, the theory of national innovation systems thinking, and analyses of AM collaboration from industry perspectives, and is conceived as a structured model of collective governance, digital integration, and trust-based partnership. It continues to encourage a systematic approach to accelerate the diffusion of AM in the U.S. energy sector through knowledge sharing, capability matching, cross-sector learning, and coordinated regulatory participation. The paper proposes a conceptual connection between ecosystem theory and practical challenges of implementing AM in the energy infrastructure, providing a basis for empirical testing and policy development.},
      keywords = {additive manufacturing (AM); collaborative ecosystem; energy systems; U.S. energy sector; business ecosystems; cross-sector collaboration; technology diffusion},
      month = {September},
  }