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The College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) hosted the Qatar Smart Manufacturing Forum bringing together leaders from industry, government, and academia. Discussions focused on the role smart and additive manufacturing (AM) can play in strengthening the country’s industrial competitiveness, resilience, and innovation capacity.

Supported by the Qatar Branch of the Chartered Institute for Procurement & Supply (CIPS) and MBK Global, the event provided a platform for accelerating the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies aligned with Qatar’s development priorities.

The forum opened with remarks from H.E. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Founder and Chairman of MBK Global, who further underlined Qatar’s strategic shift toward a knowledge-based economy. Building on this, Dr. Eyad Masad, Vice President for Research, emphasized HBKU’s growing capabilities in AM, as well as its contribution to research and talent development. For his part, Eng. Nasser Al Kawari, Chief Executive Officer of MBK Global, underscored the strategic importance of these technologies in enhancing Qatar’s industrial resilience, spare-part sovereignty, innovation, and long-term competitiveness.

Keynote presentations considered global trends across smart manufacturing, digital inventory and on-demand spare-parts, and supply-chain resilience. Speakers also addressed common misconceptions, noting that additive manufacturing can be cost-competitive and deliver reliable, high-performance outcomes. 

A key highlight of the forum was the Additive Manufacturing Potential and Readiness Index workshop, facilitated by Dr. Adel Elomri, Associate Professor, CSE. The session evaluated Qatar’s industrial AM capabilities in the short to medium term, identifying the oil and gas and construction sectors as priority areas of application. The closing panel “From Vision to Implementation: Designing Qatar’s National Additive Manufacturing Roadmap” reinforced outputs from the workshop, focusing on transitioning from research to large-scale industrial deployment. 

The forum marked an important step toward aligning vision with implementation, as well as the establishment of a national AM consortium to support a resilient, innovation-driven, and future-ready manufacturing landscape within Qatar.