Bambu Lab is starting up the Let’s Make It Fund. The company will donate up to a total of $300,000 to makers who do “bold, world-changing projects that are exceptional, enlightening, and executable.” The contest is open to anyone; you don’t even need to have one of their printers. The makers will also receive R&D help from Bambu, and their inventions will be promoted as well. The company is seeking wild ideas, “something no one has dared to attempt before.” You have to tell a story and also make a plan. The contest is intentionally very broad, with the only three requirements being:

• Exceptional, meaning they push boundaries
• Enlightening, meaning they bring something positive to the world
• Executionable — that is, genuinely feasible.

There is also no set detail, and you can submit as many ideas as you’d like. After getting the money, you have to document what you’re doing and share it. The company hopes to select around two to five projects per quarter. The maximum single donation is $300,000, but there is no overall limit.

“Every creator carries that one idea that keeps coming back like a boomerang. The one you think about late at night while convincing yourself it’s too difficult. The one you never quite have time, resources, or courage to pursue. The “Let’s Make It Fund” exists precisely so that this idea can finally leave your mind and begin shaping reality.”

P2S sample printed shoes. Image courtesy of Bambu Lab.

This is an absolutely wonderful idea. This could really generate some super cutting-edge, off-the-wall, amazing things. If you look at this cynically as a marketing exercise, I think it’s good PR, makes them more likable, is creative, and strengthens them, perceptually, as a creative open player. It’s good marketing. But it could actually lead to incredible marketing if someone makes a better mosquito net or really ends up helping a lot of people. A new product category, e.g., 3D printed water filters, could emerge from this or an entirely new business, like 3D printed kites. In that case, this could be exceptionally good marketing.

Additionally, the team has the opportunity to periodically market these inventions and projects when it is not releasing other news. That is a decided advantage, as is the fact that this could quietly move some of the best creators, engineers, and designers close to the company. At the same time, people who have never really thought about 3D printing may now take an interest. This is exactly the type of thing that a company willing to grow the 3D printing market should be doing.

AI-powered error detection in action in the P2S. Image courtesy of Bambu Lab.

I like most of all how completely open this is. By not describing anything really and being very open about the types of projects, it could really lead to improbable stuff. To me, that is what is most exciting about 3D printing in general. We can make things in a box inside our homes and offices, but we don’t yet know what we can make. We don’t know what will work or what will be useful. But that cornucopia of endless potential promise is what keeps me so excited about 3D printing. Brent Wright recently referred to the parts coming off the printer as his harvest. And that was inspirational to me. This also inspires me. A contest so open is exactly in keeping with the unknown and uncertain harvest of all our 3D printers tomorrow. What is your idea? What will you dream up? Are you as excited as I am about this?