Oman’s Upgrade programme picks 10 student startups from 232 entries

Oman’s Upgrade program has picked 10 student startups from 232 entries. Each winner will receive up to RO 10,000 and a year of incubation. The Research and Innovation Authority announced the results on 21 October 2026 at a closing ceremony in Muscat. The event was held under the auspices of Munir bin Ali al Muniri, Deputy President for Operations at the Oman Investment Authority. The ninth edition of the program turns student graduation projects into startups. Fifty-three projects from higher education institutions across Oman reached the final round. The winners came from three tracks: six in emerging technologies, three in water and one in financial technology. In the emerging technologies track the winners include an AI-based water quality monitoring system for fish farms from Gulf College, KHOOS and SentriX AI from Sohar University, an AI-controlled power management system from the National University of Science and Technology, Cardiogenols from Middle East College, and RAFID by Ali al Sulaimani of the Modern College of Business and Science. In the water track the winners are a hybrid microbial desalination cell and reverse osmosis technology from International Maritime College Oman, GreenFlow from the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Muscat, and an IoT-based smart water quality monitoring system by Hind al Nasseri of the university’s Nizwa branch. Balqees al Hinai, Acting Director of the Research and Innovation Programs Department, told the winners that what is celebrated is not the end of a journey but the beginning of a responsibility. She also announced that the Agricultural and Fisheries Development Fund will join the program’s tracks as a main partner from the coming editions. The program is open to Omani citizens and residents enrolled in higher education institutions. Graduates who finished their studies no more than two years earlier can also apply. Partners include Omantel for emerging technologies, Nama Water Services for the water track and the National Bank of Oman for financial technology. The program is implemented with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Riyada). For a student team the practical change is the start of a one-year incubation. The team will receive funding, training and support to turn the project into a company. The authority has not published how many of the previous year’s winners have registered companies or raised further capital. The value depends on whether later reports show companies formed and revenue earned. Other programs in the region also support student projects. Upgrade is run by the Research and Innovation Authority and ties directly to graduation projects. The comparison is between a national program that funds incubation for a year and shorter university competitions that stop at the award. The announcement does not list the total value of the RO 10,000 grants that will actually be paid or the share of winners who have already formed companies. It lists the selection and the support package. A reader can see the intended scope. A reader cannot yet see how many of the 10 projects become registered businesses. The authority has not published the names of all 10 projects or the universities of every team. Those details would show the spread across institutions. Without them the selection remains a list of highlighted winners. If the authority publishes the number of companies formed after the incubation year and the total further capital raised, the selection has a measurable follow-through. If the next update is only the list of winners, the change for the student teams remains the same as the initial announcement. The figures missing are the number of registered companies and the revenue they generate.