Innovation Ecosystem around Additive Manufacturing (AM) in Swedish Healthcare : A Technology Innovation Systems (TIS) Approach

Sammanfattning

Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing is gaining popularity in healthcare for applications such as anatomical models, surgical guides, and patient-specific medical devices. In Sweden, AM is already present in several healthcare settings, but its development varies across regions. These differences point to the influence of actors, networks, resources, organizational routines, and institutional conditions in shaping AM implementation beyond technical capability alone.This thesis applies the Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework to study the innovation system around AM in Swedish healthcare. The purpose is to investigate how expert respondents perceive the performance of the seven TIS functions and to explore how actor, network, and institutional conditions are linked to stronger or weaker function performance.The study used a cross-sectional research design based on structured expert interviews. Twelve respondents from six Swedish regional settings participated in ten interview sessions. The questionnaire included Likert scale items, multiple response items and open-ended questions. Quantitative responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and limited regional comparison, and open-ended responses were thematically coded to support interpretation of institutional conditions.Relatively strong functions were observed for entrepreneurial activities, knowledge development, knowledge diffusion and legitimacy, indicating that the system already has experimentation, learning, collaboration and acceptance. There was weak mobilization of resources, market formation and search guidance. The main challenges were around funding flexibility, organizational support, regulatory clarity and compliance capacity.The thesis concludes that AM has immense potential in Swedish healthcare, but broader implementation needs clearer coordination, stronger support of resources and more practical guidance for responsible and compliant use. The results should be seen as exploratory and not statistically representative, given that the study relies on a limited number of expert respondents.