MUSCAT : COMEX celebrated its 30th Anniversary this year with support and guidance from Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology – MTCIT and was endorsed by VISION 2040 as an important event to achieve Sultanates Digital Transformation goals. The event also had support of OPAL – Oman Society for Petroleum Services, the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and was held from 30 May – 15 June 2021 online at the address virtual.comex.ai 

Amr Abdullah Baabood – CEO of Arabian Research Bureau – ARB/OITE the organizing company said that COVID restrictions made us innovate and the exhibition, conference, workshops, awards and seminars were held completely virtual, modeling the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre living spaces. The platform was developed using Artificial Intelligence – Ai, 3D 360 Degree modeling, the algorithms had real time physics which allowed exhibitors and visitors to connect and communicate with audio, video calls and type chat in a virtual environment in a similar way one would do at a real exhibition. The event was accessible on computer browser, apple and android app with a gaming like experience making it first technology expo developed on advanced tech.

The exhibition was officially inaugurated on 30th May by HE Said bin Hamood bin Said Al Mawli – Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology – MTCIT. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Ingram Micro, Cisco, Oman Data Park SAOC – ODP Oman Telecommunications Company – Omantel, Ooredoo, Datamount, Trendmicro, Huawei, Oman Broadband Company to name a few took to the virtual participation with real like exhibition booths.

TallyPrime, the newest product launched by Tally, was at the exhibition which enable businesses to set-up the software quickly and record and print VAT bills in Arabic and English with ease. The software’s unique in-built error detection and correction capability ensures accurate data, so businesses always remain compliant. The software also simplifies the life of tax consultants and chartered accountants as it allows generation of VAT reports at the click of a button, enabling them to gather data for filing VAT returns for their clients easily and quickly. Tally expert conducted a session in the conference title Ai VAT & TAX which was well received.

The Ai Conference which ran from 31st May – 7th June was the longest running conference in Oman and was inaugurated by HE. Ali Al Shidhani – Undersecretary at the Ministry. Anjum Khan the Conference coordinator said “The event covered the fundamentals of Ai and had focused sessions such as Healthcare, Cyber & Information Security, Banking and Finance Technologies, Education and many more that have a great potential to grow into the COMEX series of Conferences as per the organizing committee”. The conference gave government, corporate and academia a deep dive into significance of Artificial Intelligence – Ai. She added that “We also thank the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Ministry of Education for the engagement of young children who were confident researchers and speakers on Ai from Private, International and Public Schools.” Video of the expert and children speakers is available on COMEX YouTube channel for the benefit of those who missed it.

For the first time COMEX Awards for Excellence in Technology was held on the 14^th of June where International and Omani Jury members who are experts in the field of ICT & Digital Transformation graded the participants. Kabir Ahmed the Awards coordinator said that “These awards were open to Omani Companies or International companies with Omani offices or representation. We are pleased to announce the below winners for each category” 

• BIG DATA – Oman Telecommunications Company – Omantel won the Award with the highest grades at 85%
• TELECOM –Two companies scored very good, however Oman Telecommunications Company – Omantel received the highest grades at 73% 
• ICT INVENTION – eBinaa won the award with highest grade at 53%
• ICT INNNOVATION – 9 Companies applied for this award. 5 companies scored above 60%, this category was very competitive as applications scores were very close. However, the award went to UVL Robotics with highest grade at 71%
• DATA CENTRES award was won by Oman Data Park SAOC with 81% as highest grade
• VR – ASM Technologies LLC won this award with 52% grading.
• MOBILE APPLICATION – 10 Companies applied for this award. The highest applications for any award. The scores were very close with 73.5, 68.25. 67.25, 66. However, Oman Telecommunications Company – Omantel won the Award by scoring a 74.5% 
• SOCIAL MEDIA Award was given to National Life & General Insurance Company who scored 79%.
• START UP has always been the focus from the government to encourage startups which can become unicorns. The winner Innovation Technical Solution – iNNOVATEQ took it away with a whopping 81.5 highest scoring. 
• CYBER SECURITY award went to Oman Data Park SAOC who scored 63%
• COMEX STAR EXHIBITOR AWARD – This award was decided by AI using algorithmics of the platform as you can see the administration panel, Oman Data Park SAOC won the award as their booth had the highest number of engagements with visitors and activities. 
• BEST of BEST award was received by Oman Telecommunications Company – Omantel and Oman Data Park SAOC which won the maximum number of awards

Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology – MTCIT organized the workshops at COMEX Virtual, which ran virtually and were well attended. Khadeer Ahmed the coordinator said the sessions included Cyber Security, Drones in Logistics, Tarassud app, Tech Startups Challenges, E-Census, Internet Child Protection, Breast Cancer systems, Modern Methods of E-blackmailing, Chatbots, VR in Workplace, VR into Business, Enterprise Architecture, Data Governance and IOT. The video recordings are available on COMEX YouTube channel.  

Central Bank of Oman organized the Fintech Seminars and there was one Conference Session dedicated to Ai in fintech. Suhail Iqbal – Project Manager said that Fintech was featured at COMEX for the first time and the Central Bank of Oman supported it with the participation of Bank Muscat, Oman Arab Bank, and many fintech companies including Thawani. The Fintech Seminars included Omani Fintech Eco System by Firas Al Lawati – Head of Fintech Committee CBO, Mala’a Credit Score, Banking Innovation by Oman Banks Association, Fintech Regulatory Framework by Ghada Al Kharusi – Deputy Chair Fintech at CBO and many more. This participation and series of presentations have sparked a huge interest into Oman’s Fintech potential.

Sadiq Khan – Chief Operating officer at the organizer company said that although virtual the excitement from Sponsors, Exhibitors, Speakers, Delegates, Attendees, visitors including Government was very high and the event had many government supporters and sponsors including Madayn. COMEX successfully hosted the virtual exhibition with over 80 exhibitors, the COMEX Ai Conference, Fintech Seminars, Workshops were filled with knowledge and information with more than 60 speakers and 600 delegates. With 150 Student participants from schools as speakers and presenters. The COMEX Technology Awards for Excellence is now set as a new benchmark for corporate companies to aim while they work towards the ICT Market demands and the government visions to transform Oman into a regional and global player. There were important agreements signed such as Ali Baba with Datamount and ETCO . More information on COMEX is available on www.comex.om and the organizing team is working on launching the COMEX Tech Club app which will revolutionize the marketplace dynamics. 

Liked this story? We’ll send you more. Subscribe to TAS newsletter and get stories delivered to your inbox. Click to get started.