MUSCAT: The AI Economies Initiative, launched by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, will receive RO 15 million in additional funding in 2025, according to the Under-Secretary for Communications and Information Technology, Dr Ali al Shidhani.
Speaking to Al Wisal earlier this week, the official shed some light on the initiative. “We launched the AI Economies initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, with RO 10 million allocated to support this project in 2024, and an additional RO 15 million approved for 2025.” “The idea behind this initiative is to encourage government institutions and governorates to submit development projects based on AI. In 2024, 11 projects were approved, and work is ongoing on more for 2025. This demonstrates a genuine desire from the government to leverage AI in various fields.” The initiative is one of many launched by the Ministry, in line with the AI and Advanced Technologies Executive Programme, which is part of a wider plan of boosting the digital economy’s contribution to the local GDP.
Some of the initiatives include several pilot projects utilising AI across various sectors.
“With the launch of the artificial intelligence (AI) programme in mid-2022, we began implementing pilot projects in several sectors, including the road sector, the health sector, and the agriculture sector. The experience has been very beneficial. For example, in the health sector, we used AI to diagnose certain diseases, and the results were extremely positive,” the Under-Secretary said.
Collaborating with the Ministry in advancing the initiative are a number of academic entities, including the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and The University of Technology and Applied Sciences, “We also have the Strategic Research Programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, which aims to address some challenges using scientific research. Additionally, we are working on the "AI Creators" initiative with the University of Technology and Applied Sciences. This initiative aims to encourage research that produces new AI algorithms, and we aspire to stimulate students and faculty members to innovate in this field,” said Dr Al Shidhani.
“Moreover, we launched a national competition, "Engineer it with AI," which aims to encourage participants to use generative AI to solve economic and social challenges.” he added.
“All these initiatives emphasise the importance of AI as a tool for achieving economic development in Oman. We are working to empower the youth and institutions to truly benefit from this technology, thereby contributing to transforming AI into a significant economic resource,” he concluded.
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