This paper investigates whether and how the adoption of 3D printing affected the growth rate of manufacturing firms in France. Using microdata from 2017 and 2019, we document a robust and positive relationship between 3D printing use and firm growth. To shed light on the underlying mechanisms, we distinguish between innovation-focused and production-focused applications of 3D printing. Our results show that the positive association is primarily driven by the use of 3D printing for internal prototyping, underscoring its role in enabling rapid experimentation and validation of design ideas in physical space. Using matched employer-employee data, we find evidence that firms using 3D printing for prototyping exhibit greater hiring of specialized R\&D workers, consistent with the innovation-focused channel. Matching to the community innovation survey (CIS) reveals direct evidence of greater and more-novel product innovation in a large subsample of firms. Overall, our findings highlight how 3D printing enables rapid experimentation and operates as an “invention of a method of invention” that complements skilled workers in goods-producing firms.

This paper quantifies the ICT workforce requirements for AI adoption among French firms using firm-level data from the 2021 ICT survey. Estimating firm-specific adoption thresholds, we find that most firms currently fall short of the workforce conditions required to adopt AI. However, implied labour needs for ICT engineers are highly sensitive to adjustment margins. Improving employees’ digital skills, adopting cloud computing, and benefiting from technological diffusion substantially reduce required ICT hiring. Under a plausible medium-term scenario combining training, cloud use, and moderate disembodied technical change, and assuming a 20\% adoption rate, latent demand amounts to approximately 50,000 ICT engineers. These results highlight the importance of complementary investments alongside workforce expansion.