News & Event

The activities of the Oman Science Festival continue, as the third day was filled with many events, programs, and competitions. The discussion sessions topped the agenda of the two-day events, in the presence of a remarkable number of students from public and private schools, university students, institutes and technical and military colleges and those interested in science and innovation from the local community.

For the second day in a row, two discussion sessions will be held today “Thursday” covering two themes, the first being Climate Change and its Effects, with four papers and the second theme being Astronomy and Space Sciences with also four papers presented by a selection of experts and specialists in these fields.

Under the patronage of HE Dr. Ahmed bin Nasser Al Bakri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agricultural and Fisheries, and Water Resources for Agriculture, and in the presence of HE Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education and a number of officials and researchers, the first day of the accompanying discussion sessions started with two main discussion session with 15 papers presented. The first discussion session covered the theme of Food Security and included and introductory keynote and three sub-sessions. The introductory keynote was titled “setting the scene: agrifood systems transformation” and included two papers. The first paper titled “Food security in GCC countries: status, challenges and opportunities for regional cooperation in science, technology and innovation” and was presented by Dr. Abdoulaye Saley Moussa, Natural Resources Officer, FAOSNG. The second paper was titled “Oman’s national pathway for food systems transformation” and was presented by Dr. Mahira bint Ali Alzadjali Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.

The first sub-session was titled “Science, technology and innovations for agrifood systems transformation” and included three papers. The first paper was titled “The role of peaceful nuclear science technology in the field of food security” presented by Dr. Hashimoto Makoto, Deputy Director of Radiation Protection Division, in Orai Research and Development Institute at Japan Energy Agency. Dr. Khaled Aljoumaa, Head of Industrial Irradiation and Radiation Technology at Syrian Atomic Energy Authority presented the second paper titled “Nuclear technologies in the field of food security” and Dr. Mohammed Al-Rizeiqi, Lecturer at the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, at SQU presented the third paper titled “The role of SQU Innovation Technology Transfer Centre in promoting innovation culture and managing new food products development.”

The second sub-session was titled “Youth in agrifood systems transformation” and included three papers. The first paper was titled “Omani youth on the innovative lead to enhance national food security” and was presented by Dr. Abeer Al Kalbani, Lecturer at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences. Ali Shaker, Head of Business Development and Partnership at Zubair Enterprise Development Center presented the second paper titled “Cultivating ecosystems which nurture innovation in entrepreneurship (with focus on youth). The third paper was titled “Empowering coastal women through entrepreneurship development” and was presented by Muzna Al Hatmi, CEO of Lawamis Company.

The third sub-session came with the title “Blue transformation towards sustainable aquatic agrifood systems” and included the presentation of three papers as well. The first paper was titled “Introduction to blue transformation” and was presented by Dr. Lionel Dabbadie, Senior Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer, at FAO subregional office for GCC States and Yemen. The second paper was titled “Aquaculture in Oman: status, challenges and opportunities” and was presented by Dr. Dawood Al Yahyai, Director-General of Fisheries Research at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources. The third paper came under the title “Behar Platform and its role in Fisheries sector digital transformation” and was presented by Mohammed Al Huseini, Founder of Behar Platform.

The second discussion session covered the theme of Cyber Security and included four papers. The first paper titled “Cybersecurity: Insights, Resources, and best Practices” presented by Dr. Adel Abdullah Smeda, Expert in Science and Technology Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat. The second paper came with the title “Behavioral Analysis in Cybersecurity” and was presented by Dr. Ahmed bin Hammad Al Kalbani, Dean of the Academy of Advanced Cyber Security in Oman. The third paper was titled “Autonomous Cyber Defense: A Fantastic Opportunity and Must-have Technology” and was presented by Dr. Paul Theron, Founder and First Chair of the AICA IWG International Working Group on Independent Intelligent Defense Agents. The fourth and final paper was titled “Cyber Security Operations” and was presented by Rashid bin Salem Al Salmi, CEO of Insight Information Security.

The Ibn Al-Haytham Theater included a variety of activities, as students of Asilah Bint Qais School for Basic Education, one of the Omani UNESCO-affiliated schools from the Governorate of Muscat, presented a musical operetta to promote the Green Schools initiative, titled: “A working Hand and Lasting Development.” The operetta also included a show of the “Cultivate and Learn" project, with the aim of clarifying the three fields of the project, and the school's waste recycling project.

The festival also witnessed various visits from Their Excellencies and officials, including His Highness Sayyid Azzan bin Qais Al Said, Honorary President of the Omani Astronomical Society, His Excellency Christian Bronmeier, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria accredited to the Sultanate of Oman, and Professor Nada Kakabadse from the Royal Academy.

The Innovators Workshops Corner on the third day of the festival included the presentation of four training workshops. The Industrial Innovation Academy presented three workshops, the first of which was titled "How to develop a prototype for your innovation idea?" This workshop provides participants with the basic tools to transform their project ideas and products into prototypes, with providing them with practical methods, technical devices and specialized incubators that may enable them to transform their idea.

The second workshop was on "Social Media Management Strategies for Startups and Individuals." This workshop comes as one of the possibilities for the presence of institutions, individuals, and innovators on social media platforms, which enables them to cooperate with external partners to develop a new product, raise awareness or improve the company’s reputation and its brand, products, or services among its customers, and to identify new talents and interact with them.

The third workshop, entitled "Future Skills", aims to provide participants with books, courses and resources that enhance their future skills. It also focuses on the practical skills needed by innovators and entrepreneurs, especially those related to emotional intelligence, artificial intelligence, and analytical and creative thinking skills.

Sultan Qaboos University represented by the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer presented a workshop entitled "Introducing Intellectual Property." The workshop discussed the basics of intellectual property and introduced its types and presented its history.

On the education corner, Ghanem Al-Saadi, Senior Specialist of Innovation, said: “This corner contains (20) activities, with the participation of various parties, including ministries, institutions, and associations, in addition to universities and government and private colleges. The corner in this edition of the festival is distinguished by the fact that all corner activities are interactive with the visitor and meet the needs of all age groups, including school students, university students and researchers, in addition to students under school age.”

On the Energy Corner, Khalid Al-Awfi, Senior Specialist of Scientific Innovation in the Department of Innovation and Olympiad, said: “The Corner consists of (16) various activities that represent the types of energies, their forms and transformations, and the devices on which the types of energies work, with the participation of many government and private engineering and educational agencies, and academies specialized in renewable energies such as kinetic, solar and hydrogen energy, and environmentally friendly homes. The corner includes technical solutions to overcome challenges facing solar energy, such as the robot that cleans solar cells. The corner targets those interested and specialists in renewable energies. The visitor receives many technical skills such as electromagnetic excavation, the mechanism of work of different energies, modern nanotechnology, and learning about the types, forms, and transformations of energy.”

Regarding the programming corner, Hilal Al-Khuziri, Head of the Scientific Olympiad Department at the Ministry, said: “The corner includes (14) activities that deal with all that is important and new in programming and its languages. In this edition of the festival, we aimed at the age group of small classes (1-9), by presenting them with several programming competitions, to develop a love and passion for programming among children from a young age and to instill its concept in them, for easy learning in the early stages.”