Hyderabad has hosted the first ever National Conference on 3D Printing in Medical Devices & Implants at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). The Conference was organized by the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM), Hyderabad in partnership with the Government of Telangana and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. Hon’ble Minister for ITE&C, Industries and MA&UD, Sri K T Rama Rao inaugurated the event along with Ms. Michelle Wade, Commissioner – South Asia at Global Victoria, State Government of Victoria, Australia, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan IAS, Principal Secretary, ITE&C and Industries, Smt. Rama Devi Lanka, CIO NCAM, Director Emerging Technologies Wing and OSD, ITE&C Department and Mr. Jaspreet Sidhu, CEO NCAM.
The day-long National Conference featured exhibitions of the latest 3D printing technology, panel discussions on the latest trends, applications and challenges of this technology in medicine and a round table between doctors, industry leaders and academic experts to discuss the roadmap for developing an ecosystem for additive manufacturing in medicine. Some of the prominent panellists included Global industry leaders such Mr. Sam O’leary, CEO, SLM Solutions AG, Mr. Anand Prakasam, Country Head, EOS GmbH, senior medical professionals such as Dr. Mahendranath Reddy, Chairman, CPR, Indian Prosthodontic Society and Dr. Girish Rao, National Honorary General Secretary, Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons of India (AOMSI) and academic experts like Dr Koushik Vishwanathan, Asst Professor, IISc Bangalore. The conference was attended by over 500 doctors specializing in Dental, Orthopaedics, Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Oncology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthotics and Prosthetics Surgery from across the country.
In his keynote address, Hon’ble Minister Sri K T Rama Rao spoke about how NCAM and the conference further supports the start-up and innovation ecosystem in the state and how it helps to establish Telangana as a leader in emerging technologies. He also said, “India has a huge opportunity in the 3D printing segment to become a dominant player. During the pandemic, we observed several young entrepreneurs display their innovation and use 3D printing to quickly develop parts of ventilators and other devices. We also have T-works that has been using 3D printing for their prototyping efforts. Through all these efforts, Telangana intends to get a jump start at this hugely promising sector and it is with this intent we established NCAM and conducted this key conference.”
One of the highlights of the Conference was the announcement of 20 partnerships with leading organizations in AM technology from India and abroad such as EOS GmbH, SLM Solutions AG, Markforged, Wipro 3D, 3D Systems, Redington Group, Intech Additive, Imaginarium, NIT Warangal, ARCI, Lodestar 3D, Deakin University Australia and many more. These partnerships will help in fulfilling NCAM’s core objective of promoting the adoption of additive manufacturing in India and enabling the indigenization and commercialization of AM parts, components, and materials and creating disruptions in the Additive Manufacturing sector in India.
Principal Secretary, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan also introduced the new CEO of NCAM, Mr. Jaspreet Sidhu during the inauguration. Mr. Sidhu has 17 years of experience in business development, operations, strategy in the additive manufacturing industry across Europe, India and Middle East markets. Speaking at the event, Mr. Ranjan said, “A significant momentum is developing in India for use for 3D printing in the medical sector, and therefore the very first event of NCAM is this national conference. Healthcare has always been one of our high priority sectors and we hope to see an increased adoption and accessibility of 3D Printed Medical Devices & Implants within India to ensure better health outcomes. I hope this conference is a learning moment for all participants and we can leverage this gathering today to build a stronger and advanced medical community.”
