The conference attracted for more than 150 experts and companies from the UK, New Zealand and China. The attendees discussed in depth on topics such as intellectual property protection and the development of the 3D printing industry.

During the conference, intellectual property experts and 3D printing companies from China and the UK discussed how to build an automated licensing system to protect 3D IP while sharing 3D printing content in the cloud. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) centre, the conference organiser University of Nottingham, Ningbo, together with The University of Exeter, The University Sussex, Durham University, and China University of Political Science and Law formed a joint UK-China research team to work on the topic of 3D printing licensing mechanisms, resulting in an automated online 3D printing content licensing platform that provides a unique identity for works uploaded to the platform through an embedded watermarking system, allowing uploaders to trace the dynamics of 3D design documents.