100+ Machines: Oman Makers Centre Opens for Digital Manufacturing

Oman has officially opened a public workshop for advanced digital manufacturing. On Wednesday, 28 October 2026, the Research and Innovation Authority inaugurated the Oman Makers Centre at the Muscat Innovation Complex. The centre has more than 100 specialised machines, including 3D printers, CNC machines, precision laser cutters and electronics labs, and is open to entrepreneurs and national industries that want to turn ideas into working prototypes. Times of Oman and Oman Observer both reported the opening.

📌 Key Takeaways

• Official opening: The Oman Makers Centre was inaugurated on 28 October 2026 at the Muscat Innovation Complex. Dr Mahad bin Said Baowain, Minister of Labour, was patron of the ceremony.
• Equipment: More than 100 machines for digital fabrication, including 3D printing, CNC machining, laser cutting, electronics and smart-circuit labs, plus carpentry and metal-forming workshops.
• Who does what: The Research and Innovation Authority owns and supervises the centre. Madayn operates it through its Industrial Innovation Academy. Partners are the Ministry of Finance, Beel Company (under its offset partnership for development) and MakerSpace People, the implementing company.
• Pilot results: 98 registered members, 1,666 training hours, 9 community events and more than 45 introductory visits to institutions.
• Products so far: The first 3D printer developed entirely in Oman, and a smart water-quality monitoring device for an Oman Investment Authority aquaculture company that was 80% manufactured inside the centre.

🏭 What Opened, and Who Runs It

According to Times of Oman, the centre is a national platform that helps entrepreneurs and national industries with advanced digital manufacturing and innovation. It follows the makerspace and open-laboratory model, based on specialised international examples.

Several organisations share responsibility for the centre:

• Research and Innovation Authority (RIA): Owns and supervises the centre.
• Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn): Runs it through the Industrial Innovation Academy. Times of Oman says this arrangement links the centre's programmes to industry and market needs.
• Partners: The Ministry of Finance, Beel Company and MakerSpace People, which implemented the project, as listed by Oman Observer.

Najah bint Mohammed Al Rashdi, acting Director-General of the Innovation Centre at RIA, called the centre a "successful practical model" for turning innovation into economic activity during its pilot phase, Times of Oman reported. Dr Malak bint Adam Al Hashmi, Director of the Oman Makers Centre, presented its vision, mission and strategic objectives.

🖨️ The Equipment

Oman Observer reports that the centre has more than 100 specialised devices and machines:

📊 What the Pilot Phase Produced

The centre was running before the formal opening. Times of Oman lists these results from the pilot phase:

• 98 registered members
• 1,666 training hours
• 9 events and community activities
• More than 45 introductory visits to institutions
• More than 50 visitors

The work produced so far matters more than the attendance figures. The same report says the centre built Oman's first 3D printer developed entirely in the country. It also built a smart device that monitors and controls water quality for an aquaculture company owned by the Oman Investment Authority, with 80% of the device manufactured inside the centre. A third project was a 3-metre model of the International Space Station for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).

PDO has been working with Oman's technology talent pipeline in other ways too. Our earlier report on PDO's AI talent programme with SAP covers how the operator is training Omani graduates in enterprise software.

🧭 How It Got Here

The formal opening follows several earlier steps. In February 2026, Oman Observer reported that Madayn's Industrial Innovation Academy had signed an agreement with Bara'ah Academy to run the centre. The agreement covered promotion, accredited training, support for startups developing market-ready products, and community awareness programmes. At that time the centre was described as a pre-commercial prototyping facility with metal fabrication, 3D printing and wood manufacturing units. The October coverage names MakerSpace People as the implementing company and does not mention Bara'ah Academy.

In late September, the centre began its "Oman Makers" session series. According to Times of Oman, the first session covered taking an idea to a prototype and then to a marketable product, along with industrial localisation and the use of AI and drones.

⚖️ The Limits

The centre is a good start, but it has clear limits:

• Scale is still small. 98 members is a pilot-sized community. Reported figures do not yet show companies formed, products commercialised or jobs created.
• No financial details. Neither report gives the investment amount, membership fees or the cost of using the machines.
• Prototype is not production. The centre covers the stage before commercial manufacturing. Moving to factory-scale output in Oman's industrial estates is still a separate challenge.

🇴🇲 Why this matters for Oman

Vision 2040 calls for a manufacturing base that relies more on local design and less on imported finished goods. A shared, publicly supervised digital fabrication facility means that startups, students and SMEs in Muscat do not have to buy CNC machines or electronics benches before they can test an idea. Because Madayn runs the centre, prototypes can move more easily into its industrial estates. The aquaculture monitoring device built for an Oman Investment Authority company shows the model can already deliver hardware that state companies use.

The Minister of Labour's role at the opening points to a workforce angle, which ties into Oman's wider plan to create skilled technology jobs for citizens. That plan is analysed in this look at Oman's target of 3,000 tech jobs a year. The next figures to watch are how many of the centre's prototypes become registered companies, local suppliers or contracts with Omani industry.