Innovation helps Oman to move to a knowledge-based economy and reap benefits of the fourth industrial revolution. An ecosystem of innovation is needed to support innovators to transform their ideas into market viable projects or applications.
Many agree on the importance of investing in transmitting the culture of innovation and developing the skills of innovators in various fields. For that, cooperation between the concerned authorities and private sector institutions is needed.
Among the institutions working to spread the culture of innovation is the Innovation Factory Centre, located at Knowledge Oasis.
The centre, which opened in 2017, is one of the incubators that help young Omanis to change their dreams into reality as well as encouraging them to innovate and ideate. It will help them to unleash their talents and provides a platform to make prototypes of their inventions at nominal costs.
Everyone, especially students of universities and technical colleges, can benefit from the services provided by the centre, as it provides all kinds of support necessary for innovators and inventors.
Siham al Harthyah, CEO of Asawer company, said: “I encourage everyone to visit the centre along with their children. It will help them to widen their thinking and give new direction to their ideas.”
The centre hosts 50 sub-factories and a number of innovators and creators from all sections of Omani society. It provides development and manufacturing services for government and private sector institutions.
This centre has won several awards, including Entrepreneurship Award as the best small enterprise in 2017. It also designs and develops the Sultanate’s pavilion in the Dubai Expo 2020, which will be held in October.
Firas bin Khamis al Musafir, CEO of the Innovation Factory for Scientific Research and Development stated earlier that the Innovation Factory resulted from “a need to create an environment that contributes to providing space and the basic needs for innovation using modern technologies for digital moulding”.
“We seek to provide advice to innovators to employ their ideas in solving the challenges faced by the society using technology, and provide the necessary support and consultations to transform innovative ideas into prototypes that can be manufactured and commercially marketed.”
The Factory conducts a scientific research and development study with users to study and develop innovative ideas and transform them into products or commercial solutions. It also aims to build and develop the capabilities of innovators within a specific time frame using the project-based learning methodology.
The Innovation Factory Programme for Young People consists of school visits with the aim of spreading the culture of innovation through scientific experiments and games.
In the field of community events, the centre conducts a variety of activities throughout the year to spread the culture of innovation and digital stereotyping.
