OCCI second Ramadhan night highlights innovation
Muscat: Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed al Mahrooqi, CEO of the Industrial Innovation Center, said that national policies to promote development in the Sultanate ought to be established through the main inputs, which are the state organizations, human competencies, scientific research, facilities, market advancement, and financial investment advancement in particular.
He included that the Sultanate ranked in the 80th place internationally, the 8th location in the Arab world and the sixth at the GCC level in the international innovation index provided in 2019. He added,”It is a rank that does not match the capabilities of the Sultanate, which embraced the national innovation technique, governed by a clear and enthusiastic vision to achieve the wanted objective, which is to have the Sultanate in 2040 among the top 20 development leading nations on the planet. “
This came during the 2nd Ramadan evening organized by the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Market (OCCI) last night, entitled “Innovation and its Function in Enhancing the Competitiveness of the National Economy.”
On his turn, Dr Ali bin Saif al Harthy, Dean of the Greater College of Technology, stated that innovation is the most essential aspect in accomplishing competitiveness and gaining sustainable competitive advantage. He added that development is very important to push financial progress, as data for one nation show that markets related to innovation-based technology supply about a third of task chances and contribute more than a half of its gdp.
To enhance the Sultanate’s ranking in the global innovation index, Al Harthy worried the requirement to concentrate on innovation inputs and improve them, increase the level of cooperation between private sector establishments and academic institutions, and include students in various educational phases.
Dr Hilal bin Abdullah al Hinai, Chairman of Oman Industrialists Association, stated during the evening that the association intends to overcome the difficulties facing commercial investors, discover options and present them to the proficient authorities. He added that the association is operating in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Market and the OCCI Oman to establish the SMEs sector, as it is the main driver of the nationwide economy.
For his turn, Youssef bin Ali al Harthy, CEO of Oman Innovation Fund, verified that the fund, which was developed in 2016 with a capital of USD 200 million, has actually bought more than 120 tasks in numerous sectors, the most essential of which are agriculture, food, transport, logistics, health, education, and the monetary innovation sector.
He stated,”The fund concentrated on launching a number of programs, including an intensive program entitled “Women on the planet of Innovation”, in line with the federal government’s plans to empower ladies, trigger the largest energies of society, pay attention to the problem of innovation in the governorates, along with releasing “Oman Innovates” programme, in addition to qualifying and empowering the Omani youth by sending out five batches of these youngsters to display their developments in different countries of the world.”
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Al Harthy worried the Fund’s role in embracing several national initiatives to combat this pandemic, including the RO One Million Effort for jobs that allow youths to serve society and invest in a number of platforms focused on addressing this pandemic.– ONA