TRC to host discussion on ways to build innovation-driven Omani economy

MUSCAT: The Research Council (TRC), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Cornell University, will organise a high-level panel discussion on leveraging strengths & challenges towards knowledgebased economy under the patronage of Sheikh Al Fadl bin Mohammed Al Harthy, Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, on Wednesday (October 9) at the Institute of Oil and Gas (InstOG) at the Innovation Park Muscat (IPM).

The panel discussion aims to analyse the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 and find out why the Sultanate’s ranking has fallen 11 places reaching the 80th place out of 129 countries on the Index despite it advanced 8 spots in 2018, as compared to its ranking in 2017.

This panel discussion also aims to engage decision makers and the Omani society with the importance of the GII report and discuss how to utilise it to achieve an innovation-driven economy. In addition, it aims to identify the challenges facing the collection and updating of data on time, maximise the innovation outputs of the Sultanate, and develop a road map to achieve the vision and goals of the National Innovation Strategy and its contribution towards achieving Oman Vision 2040.

This high-level panel discussion, which will give an overview about the GII on from a global perspective (approach and methodology), is expected to bring recommendations and action plans to help improve the Sultanate’s performance on the GII.

It is worth mentioning that TRC recently launched a call inviting the various government, academic, private and civil society institutions to actively contribute towards providing the data of science and technology and research and development (R & D) during the period from September 1 to October 30 this year.

The data are being collected through focal points at these institutions who have been trained previously on collection, calculation and filling in the forms designed for this purpose. The collected data will be sent later to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UNESCO UIS).