The opportunities of additive manufacturing in the creative industries: a bibliometric analysis

In the Creative Industries (CI), Additive Manufacturing is one of the new areas of investigation and, without doubt, has the potential for disruptive Innovation capable of transforming the traditional manufacturing paradigm and increasing the broadly accepted and required shift toward the design, conceptualisation, and adoption of sustainable Additive Manufacturing (AM) process. The purpose is to identify the publication trends that primarily explain the adoption the additive manufacturing in the Creative Industry through the description of the central discourse rising newly in the field. This study answers the research question: What research streams of Additive Manufacturing in the Creative Industries can be identified from the literature? This systematic review revealed that: notwithstanding the increasing concern about the growth of the CI, issues related to the industries product innovation and technological development are understudied; there is good literature on the development of contextual creative industry practice, which researchers are dedicating their works. However, a further focus on research in the fashion, textile, architecture, sculpture, and archaeological sites has emerged in the more specialised literature.