The UAE is reinforcing its efforts to become a leading global centre of 3D printing by 2030.

On 23rd May 2016, the UAE inaugurated the ‘Office of the Future’, the world’s first fully functional 3D printed building. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health and Prevention unveiled a plan to use 3D printing technology in its six dental centres across six emirates, starting from Dubai to ending in Fujairah, adding that 3D printing will be used to create fillings, fixtures and dental implants.

The ministry is training its medical staff on the use of this technology, as well as on the latest oral scanners.

In May, Dubai witnessed the use of the first alternative prosthetic implants using 3D print technology on a 66-year old patient who had lost hope of walking again after suffering from osteoarthritis.

According to the Dubai 3D Printing Strategy, 25 percent of the emirate’s buildings will be built using 3D printing technology by 2030.

The technology will also help reinvent the construction sector by reducing costs, timeframes for implementing projects, numbers of workers, and amounts of construction waste harmful to the environment.

In July, a team from “FabLab UAE,” a subsidiary of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Excellence in Educational Performance, developed an industrial-scale 3D printer, the first of its kind in the UAE, with the ability to create large 3D models.

The UAE has succeeded in attracting major companies working in the 3D printing sector, due to its investment environment and the presence of promising related projects.

The global 3D printing sector is expected to be worth around US$120 billion by 2020 and $300 billion by 2025, due to relevant research and product development activities, innovation in the design process, and increasing ease of production.