Maryland Seeks to Become a 3-D Printing Hub to Revive Depleted Manufacturing Industry

Close to $3.5 million has been pledged on Kickstarter to the Micro, a tabletop machine advertised as the world’s first consumer-friendly 3-D printer. Barely a week after the early-April launch of its crowdfunding campaign, M3D, the two-man outfit responsible for designing the printer and its corresponding software, broke $2 million in pledges. News spread across the tech blogosphere.

The news coverage glossed over the company’s location—Bethesda, MD—an otherwise unremarkable detail were it not for what’s currently brewing in the Land of Pleasant Living. Companies, community leaders, and state officials have made impressive bets on additive manufacturing in an attempt to