(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- Four research agreements to boost R & D collaboration between industry and academia in Oman were signed last week.
The agreements worth more than RO300,000 were signed at a special ceremony at the Grand Millennium Muscat under the patronage of H E Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
The research agreements have been signed between the Ejaad platform, Sultan Qaboos University, and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of an Ejaad Leadership Breakfast event, which aimed at keeping the CEOs, researchers and platform members informed of the latest progress achieved by the Ejaad Platform and the challenges it faces. It called for further collaboration and interaction from the private sector in order to achieve the objectives for which the platform has been established.
Addressing the gathering, H E Eng Aufi said, 'We are delighted today to experience the first output of the industry-academia collaboration through Ejaad platform.
'We are looking forward for more work towards finding research projects that cope with the developments of the coming period in the field of energy.'
Thirty-seven institutions from industry, academia and government have so far signed the Oman Energy R & D Protocol, which was initially signed between the Ministry of Oil and Gas, The Research Council and PDO on June 5, 2017, to collaborate and support research and innovation, and establish an efficient R & D partnership. Ejaad is the vehicle to materialise the protocol to reality.
According to Dr Suleiman al Toobi, director, Ejaad Platform, the first of the four signed projects will address the generation of bio-fuels as a clean, sustainable and commercial energy resource, while the second project will deal with the failure analysis of well tubing hanger.
The third project will address parallel clearance between Overhead Power Lines (OHLs) and pipelines, while the fourth project aims to develop a polymer for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).
Speaking about the objectives of Ejaad, Dr Toobi said, 'The platform aims to link academic research to industrial needs, targeting the sectors of oil and gas, water, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
'One of Ejaad's objectives is to maximise the in-country value (ICV) by routing business R & D requests to local researchers and academic institutions through technology transfer, and the dissemination and commercialisation of research findings.'
Currently, there are 14 industrial research challenges posted in the targeted areas for interested researchers to respond to. The posted challenges are short-term research consultancies and research projects that are executable in a one to three year period.
PDO managing director Raoul Restucci said, 'The signing of these four projects represents the first real and tangible output from the platform, and a reaffirmation of how greater alignment between industry and academia can bring significant and lasting benefits for the sultanate.'
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