MUSCAT : The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation has announced the opening of registration for latest edition of Upgrade program, a program that transforms the best graduation projects into startups, until 30^th of April 2024. The program targets Omanis and residents of the Sultanate of Oman who are students of higher education institutions (university diploma and above).

For this edition of Upgrade program, the program is divided into two tracks: Emerging Technologies Track and Water Track. The participating projects will be sorted and filtered by a jury consisting of the program partners through three stages of qualifiers, to choose the best winning projects, to begin the process of incubating and developing the winning projects.

The winning teams will be provided with a seed fund to start their business alongside the incubation services, business and marketing consultation, networking and mentoring opportunities, as well as educational awareness programs that include a group of workshops and lectures in the incubation center. Interested applicants can register through (https://orp.trc.gov.om/awards/upgrade/sub).

This year’s Upgrade program comes as a cooperative partnership between the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, which is concerned with administration and organization, Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, Madayn Industrial Innovation Academy, and Nama Group.

Upgrade program aims to spread the culture of research and innovation, support and empower innovators and creative student entrepreneurs, achieve excellence in the field of entrepreneurship, build a knowledge-based economy, contribute to raising the Sultanate’s rank and classification in global indicators, and strengthen partnership with the private sector, and providing diverse, strategic and sustainable sources of funding.