National Innovation System is reaping the low-hanging fruits of 2020
Published: 05:04 PM,Apr 27,2020 | EDITED : 10:04 PM,Apr 28,2024
- The ‘Wareedco’ platform, which has been designed to offer medicine home delivery to the elderly people in a bid to avoid infection with COVID-19.
The smart platforms ‘behar_market’ and ‘Athmar’. These platforms have been launched with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Muscat Municipality to convert auctions in the Central Fish Market to online ones.
The smart platform ‘Fastmovers’ that has been tailored for ordering refrigerated trucks for transporting fish and vegetables from central markets.
The distance-learning platform ‘easy’, which offers distance-learning services.
The ‘Igtimaati’ application that provides the video conferencing service.
The use of unmanned aircrafts (drones) to sterilize Omani neighborhoods, cities and villages by Muscat Municipality.
The use of unmanned aircrafts (drones) for comprehensive investigation and remote examination of heat temperatures for individuals suspected of COVID-19 infection.
Dr Sharifa al Harthy added, “The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is preparing a comprehensive national strategy for the development of an intellectual property system that is powered by smart electronic services. They are also providing special support to students by offering them a reduction of 90% on the patent application fees, which has contributed to the encouragement of the youth to register their patents. This approach is expected to enhance the indicators of innovation outputs of the Sultanate in international reports. With regard to the strengthening of the innovation system through the utilization of the high-quality infrastructure of the Sultanate, the Omani logistics system has revealed that the Sultanate, with its strategic location, has great potential to achieve a remarkable transition through the ASYAD Group, who are making efforts in the integration of the systems of ports, airports, and the world class road networks, to achieve the desired progress in the performance of these systems in international reports. This will eventually contribute to making the Sultanate a global logistics hub, with direct access to 40 countries around World. The Ministry of Manpower initiated an innovation unit aimed at establishing an integrative relationship between the innovation support entities within and outside the ministry. The ministry also launched the Ministry of Manpower's Innovation Award, under the slogan ‘Innovation: Partnership and Sustainability’. It also organized the ‘Oman Open Data Competition’, with the slogan of ‘We innovate with Data’, in order to generate more marketable ideas and establish start-ups.” With the support received from the Public Authority for Privatization and Partnership (PAPP), TRC, represented by the Innovation Park Muscat (IPM)’s prototyping center ‘Makers Oman’, which is the first of its kind in Oman, managed to enable a number of Omani youth to convert a diving mask into a respirator mask for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, using 3D modelling technology. The mask has been tested with specialists at the Royal Hospital and proved to be a success. Through the use of the 3D modelling technology, the Makers Oman team also managed to produce locally engineered items, including a uniquely designed hands-free door opening and a face shield that is designed to strengthen the capabilities of Oman’s frontline healthcare workers when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The IPM’s prototyping center has also developed a digital artificial ventilator to fight the virus by simulating the ventilation systems approved in the Sultanate’s government hospitals. TRC’s Smart City Platform, in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Planning, Muscat Municipality and Information Technology Authority (ITA), launched a competition for Omani youth to combat the pandemic by designing smart solutions to contain the spread of the virus within Omani society. The winning projects of this competition were the application ‘Es-hah’ for faster epidemiological investigation, using a satellite tracking system; the application of ‘Oman faces Corona’, which includes an introductory platform on COVID-19 and ways to prevent it; while the third winning application was named ‘Khallona Nehjaa’, which has been developed to assist the concerned authorities in following up with and monitoring COVID-19 patients and those in home and institutional quarantine. Meanwhile, the National System for Research and Technological Innovation of TRC offered the necessary technical and financial support for a number of higher education institutions to enable them to establish their own Technology Transfer Offices (TTO)s, and encourage students to register their patents and help to ease this process. Empowerment of Startups Empowerment of the startups has seen remarkable progress, with Oman achieving a continuous increase in the number of startups, especially those specialized in digital technology and applications, whether through the Smart City Platform, or through the Program of Transforming Graduation Projects into Start-ups ‘Upgrade’. Other examples of startups that are on the rise are those within the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector, such as the start-up specialized in the production of Omani rose water, and the start-ups using drones to pollinate palm trees in the ‘One Million Date Palm Trees’ project, which is run through the cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, support funds, and the Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada). Another prime example of the growing number of start-ups is the knowledge-based and innovation-based start-ups, such as ‘Antotech’ and the Innovation Factory. A number of initiatives have also been launched to link the industry to academia, including the Industrial Innovation Center and EJAAD, which is the membership-based virtual collaborative platform launched by TRC, the Ministry of Oil and Gas and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), where industry, academia and government can interact and engage in energy-related research and innovation activities. EJAAD has successfully so far linked 45 institutions including private companies, as well as government and private higher education institutions, in order to reach effective scientific and research solutions for addressing the challenges faced by the private sector. Support funds that finance start-ups, including Oman Technology Fund (OTF) and Innovation Development Oman Holding (IDO), an equity-based venture capital firm offered by the government of Oman to support youth projects, have contributed towards raising Oman's ranking on the Early Stage Venture Deals indicator, with the Sultanate reaching the fourth position in the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Competing with other funds from the MENA region, OTF has been ranked first place regionally on the Early Stage Venture Deals indicator in 2020, which is a proof that decision makers have become more convinced of the importance of investing in innovation and supporting entrepreneurs who produce innovative technology solutions. There are also some private sector funds that provide support for start-ups, such as Phase Ventures, which has national and global investments in the field of energy. Dr Sharifa al Harthy, Director of the NIS project at TRC, added, “As research and development are key elements of the innovation system, The Research Council has updated the National Strategy for Research and Development (NSRD) 2040, aligning with Oman Vision 2040’s vision of scientific research that leads to a knowledge society and competitive national capabilities, which are able to transform knowledge into wealth.” The presented initiatives, launched programs and set legislations affirmed the completion of the National Innovation System, which is known as a network of relationships and interconnections between all institutions and communities related to innovation, including the government and private sectors, the academic sector and the civil society institutions. Dr Sharifa concluded, “We appeal to all institutions and relevant entities to harmonize their innovation related efforts that will eventually contribute towards enhancing the Sultanate’s ranking on the world’s map of innovation and competitiveness. The global indexes concerned with innovation and competitiveness have been taken into consideration within the Oman Vision 2040 to meet the aspirations of the Omani people.” Dr Sharifa stressed that when the political will of the country shares the same vision and ambitions of the actors in the national innovation system, great outcomes, such as the goals of sustainable social and economic development of the country, can be achieved.