Spending on 3D printing in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will reach $1.3 billion by 2019, according to the latest forecasts from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The IDC has released its Semi-annual 3D Printing Spending Guide, which shows the spending in the region will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 30.8% over the 2015 to 2019 period, outperforming the worldwide growth rate of 26.9%.
MEA will maintain its position as a frontrunner in this space, and its share of global 3D printing spend is expected to grow from 4.3% in 2014, to 5% by 2019, says the IDC.
"It is clear 3D printing offers considerable growth potential in the Middle East and Africa region," says Martin Kuban, a senior research analyst with IDC manufacturing insights.
"The technology will dynamically proliferate across multiple manufacturing industries over the coming years, and we are already seeing significant interest from manufacturers in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries looking to utilise 3D printing technology. Aside from some of the more obvious applications within the automotive and aerospace industries, we expect to see some innovative and potentially transformative 3D printing deployments among medical suppliers, electronics manufacturers, and tools and components manufacturers," Kuban explains.
According to the firm's 3D printing research, MEA's 3D printer market is ready for greater mainstream adoption. The technologies that enable 3D printing are continuing to develop at a rapid pace and are creating a broad range of use cases in industries such as healthcare, education, construction, and retail.
"We are also seeing increasing adoption among oil and gas companies in the Middle East as they look to enable the rapid prototyping of parts on their sites, which can often be found in extremely isolated locations," says Ashwin Venkatchari, IDC's senior programme manager for imaging devices and document solutions in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
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