Through financing of companies in various fields the Industrial Innovation Centre seeks to support the industrial sector in the Sultanate.

The centre, to activate its role in industrial innovation and enable Omani innovations, aims to set up a number of innovative emerging companies in various industrial sectors such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI), food and beverages, metals and other vital industrial sectors.

The centre also works to support existing companies and factories through a package of facilities it provides, such as financial support and financing, supervision of production processes and improving their efficiency.

It also provides specialised technical and technical advisory services to individual innovators and entrepreneurs and contributes to the registration of intellectual property (IP) for them in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Department of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP).

These efforts come in line with Oman’s 2040 vision and keep pace with what the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is doing and promoting investment in developing the industrial sector, especially after it announced 50 initiatives in the industrial sector. The quality of competition locally, regionally and globally.

The centre also seeks to achieve self-sufficiency and maximise the economic value of the natural resources that the Sultanate abounds in. It promotes scientific research and innovation steps that employ innovative Omani youth initiatives in projects with economic returns.

The centre is keen to implement its annual training programme 'Qualifying an Industrial Innovation Specialist', which is concerned with the rehabilitation and development of human capital by qualifying 100 Omani youth annually as specialists in industrial innovation. So they become effective competencies in the knowledge economy through a series of qualification programmes that the Industrial Innovation Centre worked To be prepared and developed with various international organisations.

“The aspects of consultations received by the centre vary, whether at the level of developing new products, improving existing products, raising the efficiency of production processes, solving production problems, transferring technology and modern technologies and supporting intellectual property registration,” Ghassan Al Rushdi, Acting Director of Communication and Capacity Building at the Industrial Innovation Centre, said.

“This is to enhance the performance of companies and raise their competitiveness, as the centre cooperates with the Intellectual Property Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and to promote investment in the registration of intellectual property,” he added.

The centre provides advisory services to innovators and entrepreneurs in various sectors and fields such as food and beverages, minerals and marble, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, waste management and recycling, Al Rushdi said.

“The centre also helps to train in the field of developing innovations and trading through entrepreneurship, and support in laboratory analyses. Necessary to ensure quality, conform to specifications, and provide specialised workshops for innovators, private sector companies, and government institutions,” he added.

The importance of packaging
The importance of packaging for Omani products Al Rushdi explained that product packaging is of great importance in the process of product marketing and promotion.

According to the site Inc, It is estimated that approximately 95 per cent of new products introduced each year fail. The reason is that most consumers do not have enough time to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of products while they are shopping.

He said, “Therefore, their purchase decision is quick depending on the method of product packaging, and the Industrial Innovation Centre is keen to educate innovators, producers and entrepreneurs on the need to choose packaging materials that suit the nature of the product, ending with the establishment and registration of the trademark and building the product are marketing strategy.”

As for the Omani industrial sectors most in need of consultations, Al Rushdi said that the value-added manufacturing sector is the most vital sector that needs guidance and guidance, especially since it is one of the most popular sectors during the past few years and the most sectors that small and medium enterprises have begun to turn to.
Product development

Al Rushdi said the centre works with many international institutions to ensure the upgrading of advisory, technical and training services. The centre also works cooperatively with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion to promote the export of local Omani products.

“The centre is working on developing various products starting with providing initial consultations for product development, and soon it will start providing prototype production services to innovators and entrepreneurs through the central innovation units that it is working to establish in the fish and animal feed industries, in addition to the innovation unit in food and beverages and another specialised unit in metals,” Al Rushdi added.

Source: https://timesofoman.com/article/103165-innovation-centre-extends-support-to-omans-industrial-sector