Ministry signs pact with PDO to support Omani startups

Muscat: The Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to explore and enhance collaboration in several areas including the exchange knowledge and expertise in in-country value, LEAN Approach and procurement and contracts management as well as testing the immerging technologies.
The MoC was signed by Eng. Azza bint Sulaiman Al Esmaili, the Minister of Technology and Communications, and Raoul Restocci, Managing Director of PDO.
According to the MoC, MTC will benefit from PDO’s expertise and knowledge of in-country value programme to support and nurture the Omani tech startups to empower them to grow and succeed in different aspects of business development thus become drivers of the ICT sector in Oman.
Through this cooperation, MTC seeks to leverage the advantages of LEAN approach, adopted by PDO, to minimise waste in the ministry’s internal processes through identifying the proper solutions and practices to improve efficiency and productivity in its daily operations and customer service hence reducing cost and the required manpower.
The MoC also provides for cooperation in cybersecurity, cloud services and 4IR technologies, through exchanging knowledge and experiences and conducting specialised workshops directed to the employees of both sectors.
Additionally, PDO will seek the services of Sas Center for 4IR Technologies as it offers a sandbox and testbeds environment for the emerging technologies which will help in developing the applications, software and services provided by PDO. It will attract domestic and foreign investment and encouraging innovation in the oil and gas sector.