SINGAPORE, Nov. 22 (PNA/Xinhua) — Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research launched a 15 million Singapore dollars ( 12 million U.S. dollars) program to develop 3D printing technologies, or additive manufacturing.
The program aims to support and grow the manufacturing sector in Singapore, with a focus on aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, marine and precision engineering industries.
The fund will be split into six projects led by the Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, a unit of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
The funding will go towards the procurement of new 3D printing machinery and support systems, scheduled to be delivered by the start of next year.
Manufacturing accounts for about 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
There has been a keen interest in 3D printing technologies, which refers to the precise process of joining materials layer upon layer to make actual objects from 3D model data, making it simpler to produce complex parts and lowering costs.
The global market size of 3D printing is projected to grow five- fold from 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to an estimated 10.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, led by automotive, medical and aerospace applications. (PNA/Xinhua)