The Ministry of Information and Technology organized the 10th session of Shurkum under the title of “the role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in enhancing entrepreneurship.” The session was held in Sas Center for Mobile Apps Development in Knowledge Oasis, Muscat on Sunday the 29th of December, 2019 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The session covered a variety of topics like the actual utilization of FOSS in Oman and its influence on the economy, education and entrepreneurship. Another topic discusses challenges facing individuals and organizations that want to benefit FOSS in Oman. The session will also discuss enabling FOSS utilization in the Omani market and the relation between FOSS and Open Data. This session targets different audiences like interested government entities, private organizations aiming to develop their business and different members of the public.
It is worth to mention that Shurkum is an initiative that was implemented by the Ministry of Technology and Communications in 2014 to reinforce community eParticipation in the projects that that the ministry carries out. The initiative aims to achieve interaction between the Ministry and different segments of the society to listen to their opinions to achieve more transparency and positive effective participation, thus improving the projects, initiatives and policies of the ministry. The initiative started with open discussion sessions through which the ministry’s top management meets face-to-face with the different target groups of the community in order to take public’s opinions and suggestions. All suggestions and proposals are gathered to be presented to the management and based on which they take the appropriate decisions.
