MUSCAT - The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology launched on Sunday the third Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Centre, at the Middle East College in Muscat. The launch took place under the auspices of Dr Saif bin Abdullah al Haddabi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation for Research and Innovation.

The new Centre is a result of a collaborative arrangement between the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MoTCIT), represented by the National Centre for Information Security and the Middle East College.

In her keynote address, Aziza bint Sultan al Rashdiyah, Assistant Director General for Cybersecurity Programmes at the MoTCIT, said: “This centre is the third of the Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Centres inaugurated so far.

It is not merely a technological project but an intellectual and scientific space that nurtures creativity and accelerates entrepreneurial ideas in the field of cybersecurity.

In a time when digital threats are accelerating and cyber challenges are intensifying, local innovation in this field has become a necessity, not a luxury”.

The official further added: “This gap between need and capability underscores the importance of establishing national specialised centres such as the Hadatha Centre — to serve as platforms that inspire technological ideas and solutions, transfer research from laboratories to markets and enhance national competitiveness in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries. From this standpoint, collaboration was established with Middle East College, the first private higher education institution in the Sultanate of Oman, to host the Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Centre”.

The Assistant Director General explained that the Middle East College was deemed qualified to host the centre because of its advanced readiness assessment scores.

“The college achieved advanced readiness assessment scores and demonstrated the right capabilities to activate a strategic partnership and foster an academic environment that encourages innovation in cybersecurity — contributing to the knowledge-based economy, opening new horizons for entrepreneurship and creating quality opportunities for researchers and innovators alike. This, in turn, strengthens Oman’s position as a leading regional hub for cybersecurity innovation”, she added.

During the inauguration event, the Ministry also announced the launch of the Cybersecurity Challenges Portal, which aims to collect, study and address real-world cybersecurity challenges.

The Hadatha Centre for the Cybersecurity Industry is an initiative of the National Cybersecurity Programme (Hadatha), which itself falls under Oman’s Digital Economy Framework.

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