The ICT and the 4th Industrial Revolution Lab started at Oman Oil and Gas Institute yesterday.
The four-week lab is organised by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Information Technology Authority (ITA), with the support of the Implementation Support and Follow-up Unit (ISFU).
The lab comes within the framework of the government’s efforts to promote economic diversification. The lab will discuss three areas that cover hardware and software through solutions and applications, services provided by the sector and a number of supporting factors, such as training programmes, developing and empowering talents. Representatives of government and private institutions, academics and experts take part in the lab’s activities.
Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi Minister of Transport and Communications said that the lab comes to focus on developing the ICT sector and enabling it to become an economic contributor, along with the rest of the other economic sectors.
The lab seeks to diversify sources of income for the national economy and create job opportunities for citizens in the upcoming period. The lab discusses proposals to establish industries in this area. The lab’s discussions aim to promote value added, develop human resources to meet the requirements of this sector and develop legislations to stimulate investment, in addition to proposing training programmes in line with this stage, developing talent training plans, developing specialised knowledge and national capacity-building plans, as well as providing a supportive working environment for future jobs and the business environment in the sector.
Dr. Salem bin Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of the Information Technology Authority (ITA) explained that ITA has reviewed the basic directions of the Digital Oman Strategy and the e-Government until 2020 to deal with the changes that will affect the Omani society and economy during the 9th Five Year Plan.
He added that the future variables will be dealt with within Oman Vision 2040, with the necessary foundations for facing these future variables in the 10th Five-Year Plan.
The lab will include a framework that ensures that the sector contributes more to the GDP and creates jobs for Omanis by creating an effective institutional structure for the development of the sector through exploiting its potentials and identifying the main national projects that can be implemented and monitoring its progress.
The lab will also focus on the economic growth of the ICT sector and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will in turn stimulate other sectors, promote value added projects, and promote the sustainability of the knowledge, technology and industrial intelligence economy.
It will also contribute to improving the lifestyle of the community through its solutions and services.
It is expected that the participants in the ICT and the Fourth Industrial Revolution will come up with proposals and initiatives necessary to achieve the strategic directions of the sector, which will be followed up by all concerned parties through accurate performance indicators and a specific timetable to ensure their implementation, according to the mechanism adopted by the ISFU.
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Quelle/Source: Times of Oman, 18.02.2019
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