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07-02-2019

Oman Observer

Muscat, Feb 6 – The Global Innovation Index (GII) has become one of the key role-players in shaping how Oman will look like in 2040. Consideration of the Sultanate’s performance on the recent GIIs while drafting the preliminary vision document of Oman Vision 2040, which has been reviewed massively recently, is a major step in the right direction. “In order to harmonise the Sultanate’s efforts across all sectors and achieve integration, innovation has become an essential pillar for Oman Vision 2040. The Global Innovation Index has been adopted as one of the key performance indicators for this vision,” Dr Hilal bin Ali al Hinai, Secretary-General of TRC, said.
Oman is organising Oman Global Innovation Index (GII) Lab 2019. This event, which is organised by The Research Council (TRC) of Oman, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from February 6-7 at the Institute of Oil and Gas (InsOG) in Muscat, aims to
establish effective relations and integrated links between the national innovation entities, develop and promote the innovation infrastructure in the Sultanate, develop the Omani human capital, diversify the Sultanate’s sources of income, and confront the current national challenges innovatively.
The panel discussions cover a range of topics, such as the innovation input, innovation output, Oman Vision 2040, and leveraging strengths & challenges toward knowledge-based economy.
HH Sayyid Dr Fahad bin Aljulanda al Said, Assistant Secretary-General for Innovation Development at TRC, stressed that the GII is tool that helps policymakers design policies for sustainable economic and social development.
“The Global Innovation Index report aims to analyse and study multiple innovation-related aspects, provide tools that can help design policies that enhance long-term economic growth, improve productivity and increase job opportunities,” HH Sayyid Dr Fahad said.
Dr Sacha Vincent, Head of the Composite Indicator Research Section, Economics and Statistics, at the WIPO, said that Oman can achieve the knowledge-based economy through Oman Vision 2040 and through implementing the proposals from from this workshop.
Dr Sacha added that besides investment in human capital and infrastructure, it is very important for the Sultanate to invest in innovation and its outputs, such as patents. Muhanna al Zuheimi, Member of the National Innovation Strategy Indicators Follow-up Team, delivered a presentation on the Sultanate’s rankings on the GII. It is worth mentioning that the Sultanate jumped 8 spots in the Global Innovation Index 2018, reaching the 69th place out of the 126 countries surveyed.