Manah,
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation today announced that 13 published scholarly papers won the 11th edition of the National Research Award. The ceremony took place at Oman Across the Ages Museum in the Wilayat of Manah, Governorate of A’Dakhiliyah.
The announcement during the 11th Annual Researchers Forum titled “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, currently held under the auspices of Dr. Khamis Saif Al Jabri, Head of Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit.
As many as 274 participants contested the award, including 167 from the category of holders of PhD or its equivalent, senior specialists and physicians.
The contest participants also included 107 emerging researchers. From this category, 207 research papers were shortlisted for the final stage of the competition.
In a speech at the event, Dr. Rahma Ibrahim Al Mahrouqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, said that the current session of the Annual Researchers Forum focuses on the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in supporting the development of a knowledge-based economy, in a bid to enhance integration between research, innovation and economic sectors with society.
Dr. Rahma explained that the Ministry sought to consolidate this role through the programmes and projects being implemented within the tenth five-year plan (2021-2025).
The minister spoke about the recent launch and activation of a “Programme to Support the Establishment and Operation of Innovation and Technology Transfer Centres” at higher education institutions. She pointed out that the programme provided support for innovators and entrepreneurs to convert the outcomes of their research and technological innovations into successful commercial projects.
She added that the programme focuses on three main packages of services, namely “business incubators and accelerators”, “modelling laboratories” and “technology transfer and development offices”. It also underlines the importance of raising awareness about registering intellectual property rights and how to benefit from their outcomes.
A number of contracts for the Strategic Research Projects Programme were signed on the sidelines of the forum. The programme serves government institutions. The contracts were signed with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and Dhofar Municipality.
In addition, 29 such protocols were inked with government and private universities and colleges, research centres and Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB), as part of the “Institutional Funding Programme” that provides support on the basis of competence.
The forum also included a visual presentation about the National Research Award, two discussion panels on the role of institutions in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship and an exhibition featuring research projects and prototypes of innovative projects.
The ceremony saw the felicitation of winners of the National Research Award, which covered six different sectors.
It also saw the felicitation of winners of the “Best Published Research Award for Emerging Researchers” (non-PhD holders), in which six published papers were declared winners.
