Tuesday 09 / June / 2026
Muscat: The second edition of the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) Hackathon commenced today in Muscat, bringing together a competitive assembly of innovators and promising talents from within and outside the company to develop groundbreaking digital solutions that enhance institutional performance and support the national development agenda.
The hackathon, which runs for three days, is part of the company's digital transformation campaign. Building on the success of the first edition, it reaffirms PDO's commitment to accelerating digital transformation, embedding a culture of innovation, and empowering national competencies. The hackathon offers an interactive platform that enables participants to collaborate, exchange ideas, and devise practical solutions to institutional challenges.
Multidisciplinary teams comprising PDO employees, university students, job seekers, technology enthusiasts and innovation pioneers are designing and developing prototypes for digital solutions focused on several critical areas, including cost reduction, productivity enhancement, operational efficiency improvement, and digital enablement. These solutions will be presented before a specialized judging committee at the close of the hackathon.
This year's edition has expanded its scope of participation, strengthening collaboration with academic institutions, Omani small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and various stakeholders within the technology and innovation ecosystem. This embodies PDO's approach to building shared value by bridging industrial expertise with emerging talent and local innovative capabilities.
Among the most notable qualitative additions in this edition is the launch of an integrated programme to support winning ideas and continue their development beyond the competition. This helps transform them into viable projects within the company and opens the door to scaling them for broader markets and greater opportunities.
The hackathon aims to empower participants to test their ideas, convert them into executable prototypes, and demonstrate their viability within a limited timeframe. This would reinforce the culture of innovation, contribute to the development of digital capabilities and support the objectives of the institutional transformation journey at Petroleum Development Oman.
