Hyderabad, The Telangana government, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the Additive Manufacturing Society of India (AMSI) are conceptualising a National Center for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM) in Hyderabad.

The centre would execute the draft national additive manufacturing strategy, officials said.

"NCAM will nurture the domestic additive manufacturing industry, reduce import dependency of domestic market and position India as a global hub for additive manufacturing development and deployment. The centre will serve national objectives like self-reliance," Telangana's Principal Secretary, ITE&C and Industries & Commerce Jayesh Ranjan, said.

The Emerging Technologies Wing of Telangana's Department of Information Technology, Electronics & Communication organised a virtual stakeholder consultation workshop on February 6, which was attended by over 40 major stakeholders from across industry, startups and academia.

The consultation identified initiatives to drive the adoption of additive manufacturing in industry and match global standards.

The workshop discussed setting up a world-class state of the art facility for industrial use with the necessary infrastructure and resources to enable R&D and innovation, product design and development, skilling, and capacity building programmes.

It also discussed establishing a global innovation and research hub for additive manufacturing and building a world-class skilled workforce on designing and developing additive manufacturing products. Mass awareness campaigns will be organised for additive manufacturing adoption in industry and regional clusters.

Collaborating with industry leaders, providing legal and characterisation framework, and standardising processes to drive demand for additive manufacturing designed products were the other issues discussed.