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10-02-2019

Muscat Daily

MUSCAT - The Research Council (TRC), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), last week organised the Oman Global Innovation Index (GII) Lab 2019.

The two-day event was held at Institute of Oil and Gas in Muscat.

GII has become one of the key features in shaping how Oman will look like in 2040. Sultanate’s performance on recent GIIs was given consideration while drafting the preliminary document of the Oman Vision 2040.

“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,” said Dr Hilal al Hinai, secretary general of TRC.

GII lab aimed to establish effective relations and integrated links between the national innovation eco-system 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 covered a range of topics, such as the innovation input, innovation output, Oman Vision 2040, and leveraging strengths and challenges toward knowledge-based economy.

H H Sayyid Dr Fahad bin al Julanda al Said, assistant secretary general for Innovation Development at TRC, stressed that the GII is a tool that helps policy makers 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,” Sayyid Dr Fahad added.

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 actions that are expected to be produced from the 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. Sultanate jumped eight spots in the Global Innovation Index 2018, reaching the 69th place out of the 126 countries.