Last November, Mr. Chair, you met Abigail Capannelli, a young lady from your riding who was very pleased to show you her new hand. She had a new prosthetic hand. Abigail sent me this clip to express her appreciation. This is a hand that was done with 3-D printers by volunteers here in Ottawa. You should look at the images. You'll see Abigail wearing her prosthetic hand.
[Video presentation]
Thank you, Abigail.
As you can see, Abigail uses her new hand to prepare meals, work in the garden, and play sports.
This happened as a result of the e-NABLE network. Last summer a news report about a boy in Hawaii who was equipped with a similar hand prompted Abigail's mother to send pictures of Abigail's arms and a request to the e-NABLE network.
The e-NABLE network is an ecosystem of researchers in prosthetics and 3-D printing, passionate volunteers, makers, and end-users and their care providers. In a matter of days, the e-NABLE matchmaker contacted a volunteer, also based in Ontario. It happened to be me.
I had signed up with the e-NABLE network because I thought I would have easy access to a 3-D printer here in Ottawa. That was in August 2014. I knew that there were two 3-D printers at the Ottawa Public Library in Nepean. Unfortunately, they didn't use the right kind of filament. But then the engineering department of the University of Ottawa opened a makerspace and they made it open to the public on Sundays, so I was able to access their printers. Throughout September 2014 there was a lot of trial and error with materials, sizing, printing quality, and the assembly of the prosthetic.
I was able to send by courier a prosthetic to Abigail, who was in Waterdown, Ontario. I had never met Abigail. She received the prosthetic and she was quite pleased with it. One month later, she came to Ottawa. She met with you, Mr. Chair. She was here for the official launch of the makerspace at the University of Ottawa.
So 3-D printed prosthetics can provide desired functionality at a fraction of the cost of similar prosthetics supplied by industry. It cost less than $100 to produce this. In industry, it would be over $20,000. It's not exactly the same, but it provides the functionality. Ordinary people like me with no particular training can access 3-D printers and make functional assistive devices, whether in Ottawa, in Timbuktu, or in a refugee camp.
Open source designs, creative commons licensing, and enhanced public access to the results of publicly funded research are key for sustaining local resilience, for more innovation, and also for more equitable wealth distribution in the digital age.
I think there's a role for governments to help accelerate the spread and growth of makerspaces, fab labs, and tool libraries that are managed by and for the community. This is an astute way of promoting local resilience, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Bettina.