Egypt has been through some tough times lately. After the revolution brought to an abrupt end almost 30 years of reign by then President Mubarack, two more governments have been and gone and this last one, led by ex-general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, generally known as just “Sisi”, seems to have brought a time of stability allowing the great North African country to once again look to take its place among the great civilizations of the world.
It is going to do this by reinvigorating education, industry, commerce, creativity and tourism and in every single one of these aspects 3D printing can and is already giving a helping hand. I found out about all this because I was invited, by an Italian-Egyptian cultural association know as AS Events, to give a brief presentation on how 3D printing technologies could serve to promote tourism for the occasion of the the Third Annual Italian-Egyptian Festival of Cairo.
The event was co-organized by Roberto Colantuono, a friend of my business partner, Dario Marinoni. The festival was a great success and, although it may be a while until 3D printing will seriously be used to bring Egypt’s great cultural heritage to the new generations of tourists and locals alike, the process is already under way. Many amazing ancient Egyptian artifacts (in the past few months we have written about Factum Arte’s reproduction of King Tut’s tomb or the incredible project to “copy” an ancient mummy eagle) are being reproduced and studied all over the world.
As I was going to Egypt for the first time to speak about 3D printing to an audience that included emissaries from the Ministry of Tourism, I fist of all wanted to get up to full speed on what Egyptian society had been doing with 3D printing so far. Although it has many social issues and has been through some tough times, Egypt is a great country with over 80 million inhabitants and Cairo is a gigantic – and for some parts modern – city with 22 million residents and another 8 million people pouring into it every day. Nevertheless finding information in English without knowing where to look is not easy.
Fortunately one of those usual coincidences that have characterized my life in the 3D printing industry came to my rescue and the all knowing Facebook suggested a new friend to me: Mohammed Osama Rateb, form Egypt’s Higher Technological Institute. He referred me to Osama Kamal, an Electronics and Communication Engineering graduate form the University of Cairo. He is the founder of the young Egyptian 3D Printing Society and he is currently designing and producing his own RepRap based 3D printer.
Speaking with Osama showed me that I was right in believing that 3D printing is already taking hold in Egypt at industrial and commercial levels, as well as evolving through Osama’s own project. He gave me an amazingly clear view of what is happening both socially and with 3D printing.
“One man cannot change everything,” he said speaking about Sisi, “we, the people, have to change and make this country better. Now that I finished my military service I want to do it by creating and managing a digital manufacturing workshop at the University of Cairo and try to open up the market for 3D printing with my own RepRap project and blog. I believe people will need to have a 3D printer in their homes.”
Osama’s project is the first of its kind in Egypt but it is not, by far, Egypt’s only activity related to 3D printing and additive manufacturing and it is clashing with people’s expectations but on an engineering and pro level the quality he has achieved is already competitive and he is working on optimizing it. His goal is to create a small workshop to make things for people and already he has found the first customers: other engineers working on their own projects. Osama believes school, high schools and universities may be next.
“There are companies who have begun selling industrial 3D printers throughout Egypt,” Obama says, “but most additive manufacturing related activities are related to the CMRDI, a governmental association that I have collaborated with.” The Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI) of Egypt, affiliated with the Ministry of Scientific Research, is a major scientific institution with outstanding experience in the field of metallurgical research and advanced manufacturing technologies.
They have access to their own Concept Laser M3 Linear SLM system, as well as a large EnvisionTEC DLP system and many other industrial metal working machines. The CMRDI collaborates with many research institutions in Europe and all over the world, including Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute and Italy’s CNR.
“I was introduced to the CMRDI by professor Moaataz Atallah, a materials expert who resides in the UK. He works at the University of Birmingham and is one of the leaders in the advanced manufacturing community. Also professor Brando Okolo, who is an expert on 3D printing technologies and currently works as CTO for INDMATEC is a reference for my work.
“I believe 3D printing is the third industrial revolution and that Egyptian society could benefit greatly from 3D printing on many levels,” Osama says. “There currently are not 3D print shops in Cairo that I know and I think it is time someone opened one.” Osama may be the one to do it, in the meantime consumer and prosumer 3D printing services are already offered by ADMA Labs, a company and shop based in central Egypt. Along the Nile, where civilization began and may begin again.
