Omani drone company wins Rowad Hackathon 2023 award

Omani drone company wins first place in Rowad Hackathon 2023

Muscat: “Najma Marches” Company is one of the projects supervised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority, as it has achieved a number of achievements in its field of specialization, and is managed by Omani youth.

Saeed bin Abdul Ghafoor Al Balushi, CEO of the company, said that “Najma Marches” focuses on research and development to provide innovative technical solutions that contribute to technological progress in the Sultanate of Oman and make it a global technology center. He added that the company owns a manufacturing unit that is considered a primary research center in the state of Sohar in the Otab region, noting that the manufacturing unit forms part of the Sohar Production Incubators for Manufacturing Industries affiliated with Sohar University.

He explained that the company won several awards, including the “Sweeping” project, which won first place in the Oman Airports Ideas Competition, as the project focuses on using robots to clean airport runways from tire debris and plankton and contribute to preserving the environment. In addition, it won first place in the “Entrepreneurial Ideas Race” organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, thanks to its innovative solutions to address the problem of water salinity in some of Nama’s stations.

The company also won first place in the “Rowad Hackathon 2023” in Qatar, through the “Vega” project, which focuses on using drones with an artificial intelligence system for early detection of the red palm weevil.

He pointed out that the company implemented eight projects with governmental and private bodies, including: spraying by drones, where the total spraying area reached 16 thousand acres, represented by 8 thousand acres for the palm tree dubas, and 6 thousand acres for the nargile beetle and whiteflies. In cooperation with the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources, represented by the Center for Agricultural Research and Water Resources in the South Al Batinah Governorate, and two thousand acres for private farms around the Sultanate of Oman. In addition, a hybrid gasoline agricultural drone was converted to fully electric, and the first Omani drone produced by Sohar was manufactured, in addition to covering the vegetation and wild trees in the Sultanate of Oman in cooperation with specialists in space photography.