Ooredoo Oman Powers Mulhim AI Hackathon: Generative AI Innovation Takes Center Stage

On October 29, 2025, Ooredoo Oman proudly sponsored the Mulhim Generative AI Hackathon, a groundbreaking event that brought together over 300 developers, data scientists, and AI enthusiasts to push the boundaries of generative AI applications in Oman. The 48-hour coding marathon, held at the Innovation Park Muscat, showcased the Sultanate's growing prowess in artificial intelligence development.

"By sponsoring the Mulhim AI Hackathon, Ooredoo Oman is investing in the future of AI innovation in the Sultanate. The solutions developed here today will shape how businesses and government services operate tomorrow."

- Bassam Al Rawas, CEO of Ooredoo Oman

🚀 The Hackathon: Numbers That Matter

📊 Event Statistics:

👥 300+ - Participants from across Oman

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 75 - Teams competed

⏰ 48 - Hours of non-stop coding

🎓 15 - Universities represented

💰 OMR 50,000 - Total prize pool

🏢 20 - Corporate sponsors

👨‍🏫 30 - Expert mentors

💡 75 - AI solutions developed

🏆 Winning Projects That Stole the Show

🥇 First Place (OMR 20,000): "Tarjim AI"

Team: Neural Navigators from Sultan Qaboos University

Solution: A generative AI platform that provides real-time, context-aware translation between Arabic dialects and 15 global languages, specifically trained on Omani dialect nuances.

Accuracy rate of 94% for Omani dialect translation
Supports voice, text, and image translation
Already in talks with Ministry of Tourism for implementation

🥈 Second Place (OMR 15,000): "MediGenAI"

Team: HealthTech Innovators from Oman Medical College

Solution: An AI-powered medical report generator that converts doctor's voice notes and patient data into comprehensive, professionally formatted medical reports in Arabic and English.

Reduces report generation time by 85%
HIPAA and local privacy compliant
Pilot program starting at Royal Hospital Muscat

🥉 Third Place (OMR 10,000): "EduGenie"

Team: Learning Dynamics from University of Nizwa

Solution: A generative AI tutor that creates personalized learning content, quizzes, and study plans based on individual student learning patterns and the Omani national curriculum.

Covers all subjects from grades 1-12
Generates content in Arabic and English
Adaptive difficulty based on student performance

💡 Challenge Categories and Innovation Themes

The hackathon focused on five key challenge categories, each addressing critical needs in Oman's digital transformation journey:

1. Government Services Enhancement

Teams developed AI solutions to streamline government operations, with standout projects including:

SmartGov Assistant: AI chatbot for answering citizen queries about government services
DocuGen: Automated document generation for various government applications
Policy Insights: AI tool analyzing public feedback to improve policy making

2. Tourism and Hospitality

Projects aimed at enhancing Oman's tourism sector through AI:

Visit Oman AI: Personalized itinerary generator based on visitor preferences
Heritage Stories: AI that generates engaging narratives about Omani historical sites
ConciergeBot: Multilingual hotel assistant powered by generative AI

3. Financial Services Innovation

FinTech solutions leveraging generative AI:

InvestorGPT: AI investment advisor for retail investors
FraudSense: Generative AI for detecting financial fraud patterns
CreditScore+: Alternative credit scoring using non-traditional data

4. Healthcare Transformation

Medical AI applications beyond the winning MediGenAI:

SymptomCheck: AI-powered preliminary diagnosis tool
MedReminder: Personalized medication adherence assistant
HealthyHabits: AI coach for lifestyle disease prevention

5. Environmental Sustainability

Green tech solutions powered by AI:

WaterWise: AI optimization for water consumption
SolarPredict: Solar energy generation forecasting
WasteSort AI: Computer vision for automated waste segregation

🌟 Ooredoo's Comprehensive Support Package

As the title sponsor, Ooredoo Oman provided unprecedented support for participants:

📦 Ooredoo Developer Package:

Cloud Infrastructure: Free access to Ooredoo Cloud with 1000 GPU hours
5G Connectivity: Dedicated 5G network for ultra-fast development
API Access: Premium access to Ooredoo's telecommunications APIs
Mentorship: Direct guidance from Ooredoo's AI research team
Incubation Opportunity: Top 5 teams offered spots in Ooredoo's startup accelerator

🎯 Technical Infrastructure and Tools

The hackathon provided state-of-the-art AI development infrastructure:

Computing Resources

Access to NVIDIA A100 GPUs for model training
Pre-configured environments with PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX
100TB of storage for datasets and model checkpoints

AI Models and APIs

OpenAI GPT-4 API credits worth $1000 per team
Google Vertex AI platform access
Anthropic Claude API for advanced reasoning tasks
Custom Arabic language models from QCRI

Development Tools

GitHub Copilot licenses for all participants
JetBrains IDE suite with AI assistants
Docker containers for easy deployment
Kubernetes clusters for scalable applications

👨‍🏫 Mentorship and Workshops

The event featured intensive learning opportunities:

🎓 Workshop Highlights:

"Prompt Engineering Masterclass" by Dr. Sarah Chen, Google DeepMind
"Fine-tuning LLMs for Arabic" by Prof. Ahmed Hassan, QCRI
"Building Production-Ready AI Apps" by Microsoft Azure team
"Responsible AI Development" by Ooredoo's Ethics in AI committee
"Scaling AI Startups" by successful Omani entrepreneurs

🚀 Post-Hackathon Acceleration Program

Ooredoo announced a comprehensive support program for promising projects:

Ooredoo AI Accelerator 2025

6-month intensive program for top 10 teams
OMR 5,000 monthly stipend per team
Office space at Ooredoo Innovation Lab
Access to Ooredoo's customer base for pilots
Legal and business development support
Demo day with regional investors in April 2026

"The quality of AI solutions developed in just 48 hours exceeded our expectations. These young Omani innovators have shown that with the right support and infrastructure, Oman can compete globally in AI development."
- Nasser Al Rashdi, Chief Technology Officer, Ooredoo Oman

🌍 Industry Impact and Adoption

Several major organizations expressed interest in adopting the hackathon solutions:

🤝 Confirmed Partnerships:

Ministry of Tourism: Piloting Tarjim AI for tourist information centers
Bank Muscat: Testing FraudSense for transaction monitoring
Oman Air: Implementing chatbot solution for customer service
PDO: Exploring predictive maintenance AI for oil operations
Ministry of Education: Evaluating EduGenie for national rollout

💡 Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Key Success Factors

Focus on solving real Omani challenges rather than generic problems
Importance of Arabic language support in AI solutions
Need for privacy-preserving AI in sensitive sectors
Value of cross-functional teams combining technical and domain expertise

Technical Insights

Fine-tuning models on local data significantly improves performance
Hybrid approaches combining multiple AI models work best
Edge deployment considerations for areas with limited connectivity
Importance of explainable AI for government and healthcare applications

🎯 Future Roadmap

Building on the hackathon's success, Ooredoo announced several initiatives:

📅 Upcoming Programs:

Quarterly Mini-Hackathons: Focused on specific industry verticals
AI Developer Community: Monthly meetups and knowledge sharing
Student AI Clubs: Supporting AI clubs in 10 universities
Women in AI Initiative: Dedicated program for female developers
Mulhim 2026: Even bigger hackathon planned for October 2026

📈 Economic Impact Projection

Independent analysis by Deloitte estimates the economic impact of the hackathon:

Potential creation of 500+ AI-related jobs by 2027
Expected OMR 50 million in productivity gains from AI adoption
Projected 10 AI startups to emerge from participant pool
Estimated OMR 20 million in venture funding for AI startups

The Mulhim Generative AI Hackathon 2025, powered by Ooredoo Oman, has set a new benchmark for AI innovation events in the region. More than just a competition, it has catalyzed a movement that positions Oman as an emerging hub for AI development in the Middle East. With continued support from industry leaders like Ooredoo and the enthusiasm of Oman's tech community, the future of AI innovation in the Sultanate looks brighter than ever.