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Another rapidly developing major trend is the Makers Movement. Equipment and tools have become much easier to use and really affordable. And new types of equipment like 3D printers together with a host of new materials and techniques complete the opportunity to democratise manufacturing. In other words a couple of people could easily get together and buy what it takes to make at least prototypes of their ideas. And that is exactly what has happened – there are makers everywhere, in more or less organised and specialised organisations, sharing tools, skills and facilities, training each other and building new micro startups en masse. FabLabs, TechShops and Makerspaces are popping up everywhere and 3D printing and scanning by itself promise massive changes on how we design and produce things, e-business, healthcare and so on.

It is hard to predict what will happen when these two mega trends meet but let me share a couple of observations to get going:

– It’s more difficult and resource consuming to design, manufacture, market and service hardware than just software

– Hardware requires more money and a wide range of expertise

– Working with hardware requires more physical interaction and relevant facilities

– Early stage investors are often reluctant to invest in hardware today

– Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are already loaded with hardware, often with great innovative design compared to mainstream products

– Apple combines gorgeous things with ease of use and Internet bringing continuous innovation and record profits

I find the meeting of these two mega-trends very interesting and have worked for a year with some friends trying to figure out how to turn this into serious solutions and big business. One important conclusion is that successfully making solutions with things included require great engineers, great designers, great entrepreneurs and internationally successful enterprises with things part of their solutions to collaborate with. That makes it a perfect fit for Sweden and I will do my best to help the Swedish hw start-up community become successful. We have started to use #sthlmthings for our community and I would welcome other communities to gather around similar hash tags to make it easier to follow and interact in and between “things communities”.

Things matter!