Thursday, March 28
10:28 PM

Registration opens for student startup programme Upgrade

2 Oct 2022

Muscat – Registration for the sixth edition of Upgrade, which transforms the best student projects into startups, has opened.

The programme is a collaborative effort by a group of partners from the private and public sectors, including the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the Authority for SME Development, and Omantel.

This year’s programme has two categories – information and communication technology and industry. The latter is new to the programme and was set up through a partnership between MoHERI, Bank Muscat and the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn).

The ICT category will focus on transforming the winning student graduation projects into startups in Fourth Industrial Revolution areas such as Smart Cities, Internet of Things, Information Security, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and block chain.

In the industrial category, the areas of interest include engineering, agricultural sciences, marine sciences, applied sciences, environmental sciences and vital resources.

The evaluation criteria for the two categories of Upgrade include novelty of the idea, possibility of developing the idea into a commercial product, team skills, marketing strategy, clarity, and distinguishing factor of the idea.

Registration requirements include classification of participating projects in either one of the two categories, convertibility of research outputs into a product or initial service model, provision of the project’s financial plan, and a report on the goals, results and achievements of the research.

Winning projects will be provided with seed fund to start their business alongside incubation services, business and marketing consultation, networking and mentoring opportunities, as well as educational awareness programmes that include workshops and lectures in the incubation centre.

Interested applicants can register through https:// upgrade.om

The Upgrade programme has transformed 15 student graduation projects into smart applications and startup companies, providing opportunities for self-employment with continued financial support and commercial and marketing guidance.

The programme is highly valued by those interested in graduation projects, especially those interested in becoming future entrepreneurs and establishing their own companies. ‘The programme is indeed an opportunity for them to achieve their goals and turn their graduation projects into startups,’ MoHERI stated.

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