Nepal’s New 3D Printing Association
Nepal will have a 3D Printing Association before the end of the year. An umbrella organisation for all of the organisations and individuals united by their desire to cement 3D printing at the heart of Nepal’s burgeoning maker movement and new industrial revolution.
Field Ready and Nepal’s 3D printing actors are forming an association to; professionalise the 3D printing sector, advocate for the interests of the 3D printing community as a whole and to provide a central focal point for the sector.
Using the amazing 3D printing MakerMap (linked here and pictured below) that we developed earlier this year, Field Ready reached out to 3D printing organisations and individuals across the sector including those involved in health, education, commercial printing, prosthetics and hobbyists. The first meeting of the association took place earlier in November and was a great success, with representatives from 16 organisations (out of 25 in the whole of Nepal) taking part. There are many people using 3D printing in Nepal, and this project aims to link them up and support them in working together for the development of the sector and technology as a whole.
First things first though and the Association has no name currently! So, this inaugural meeting was a broad brush discussion on the ideal role the Association might serve and what we should call it — if you have any ideas, please drop us a note in the comments.
The meeting set out some initial ground rules, discussed the name and laid out a strategic vision for Nepal’s 3D printing sector and the supportive role that the 3DP Association can play for all of the diverse 3D printing related businesses and organisations across Nepal.
Based on our initial meeting, our key areas of focus will be: sector-wide coordination, and learning and servicing the specific needs of each organisation and subset of the 3D printing sector. These needs vary as widely as the organisations themselves but there are a few common strands in their wishes, especially increasing awareness and visibility of the technology and organisations in the sector. Next up is nailing down the name, developing a logo and branding and establishing a stronger online presence so that potential customers or partners have a central contact point for Nepal’s 3DP organisations.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing though, and there were a number of holdups on our project, which illustrate the need for a 3D printing association. For instance the customs clearance of our 3D printer filament was held up by the fact that there was no entry for filament in the customs code of Nepal leading to import delays. There was also confusion at the Customs Department about the actual usage of a 3D printer — Zener Technologies, one of our project partners had to attend the Department to give them a briefing so they didn’t classify our 3D printers as ‘office printing equipment’, which incurs a 30% import duty.
The 3D printing association will push forward a business model that could be transformative for the sector. Namely, producing 3D printer filament in Nepal under the banner of the 3D printing association for the local market and, with high quality filament and a fair wind at their backs, even exporting to India where demand is high as their prices. This business model has been made possible by support from DFID through the Frontier Technologies Livestreaming programme, which aims to support the development of the 3DP sector in Nepal to the point where it is self-sustaining and can be called upon as a humanitarian aid procurement resource in the event of disaster. Field Ready have been providing technical support for the association and wider project.
Check back here for more updates soon.
