2018-05-14

OIA meets with Gold Medal student winners and explores possibility of developing their invention

Muscat 2nd May 2018: His Excellency Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi, Executive President of OIA, met in his office yesterday Ameera bint Said al Abri and Ishhar bint Said al Malki, the two medical students from the Nursing College of the University of Nizwa; who won the gold medal at the 46th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland for their invention of a device to monitor the blood glucose for the elderly and those with disabilities, especially the blind people.

The meeting aims to explore the possibility of transferring the students’ invention from idea on paper to become an industrially viable product. His Excellency Al Murshidi valued the new invention, and expressed his appreciation of the outstanding achievement of the two students, and wished them all success in the future.

The meeting was attended by Mulham bin Bashir Al Jarf, Chief Investment officer at OIA, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Innovation Development Oman “Ibtikar”, which is a government company with a capital of RO 50 million, the State Reserve Fund holds 60% of its capital. The company specialises in transferring innovations to become major projects at the global level. It also focuses on solving problems and meeting the needs of markets through the implementation of projects with serious ideas providing innovative services and products in the sectors of health care, life sciences, energy, water, food, agriculture and related modern technologies. Since its establishment in 2015, the company has reviewed nearly 450 projects, and has invested in 6 of them. The specialized team at “Ibtikar” has met with the winning students and discussed the technical and commercial details needed to produce this innovation and transfer it to the markets.

It's worth mentioning that the new invention is intended for the elderly and people with special needs, including the blind, where they can use the device alone to measure the level of sugar in the blood and using the properties of sound, light and vibration in the same device. The invention is the first of its kind in the world, and comes with a special app in (Apple & Android), making it easy to store readings accurately for doctors to monitor patients’ condition periodically.

The two students received the gold medal in the field of medicine, among 123 other inventors from around the world.