6 Startups, 4 Prototypes: Hadatha's Cyber Showcase at ISTC 2026

Oman's effort to build a homegrown cybersecurity industry put actual products on show this week. On 21 October 2026, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) said its Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Exhibition was showing six Omani startups and four cybersecurity prototypes developed by young Omani talent. The exhibition ran as part of the seventh Information Security Technology Convention (ISTC 2026) in Muscat, according to the ministry's announcement.

📌 Key Takeaways

• The Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Exhibition showed six Omani startups and four prototypes built by young Omanis through Hadatha centres, MTCIT reported.
• It opened under the patronage of Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Eng Said bin Hamoud Al Maawali, as part of ISTC 2026, the convention's seventh edition.
• According to the ministry, the exhibition aims to make the startups more competitive and help them reach local, regional and international markets.
• Hadatha is now an executive programme under the National Digital Economy Programme and rests on six pillars, from skills and innovation to exports.
• The ministry did not name the startups or the prototypes, and it published no visitor or deal figures.

🔐 What Happened at ISTC 2026

The ministry's address was given by Eng Badar bin Ali Al Salhi, Director General of the National Centre for Information Safety. According to MTCIT's summary, he said cybersecurity has become a fully fledged industry built on knowledge and innovation. He described the exhibition as a showcase for public-private partnership and for investment and cooperation opportunities.

The ministry gave the exhibition three goals:

• Make Omani cybersecurity startups more competitive.
• Give them a stage for their products, services and solutions.
• Help them move to more mature stages of development and into local, regional and international markets.

The four prototypes came out of the Hadatha centres. That makes this exhibition the first public showing of what the centre network is producing, not only an announcement of plans.

🏗️ The Six Pillars Behind Hadatha

The ministry said it has adopted the Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Programme as an executive programme under the National Digital Economy Programme, in line with Oman Vision 2040. The programme has six pillars:

📈 How This Compares With Earlier Hadatha Milestones

Hadatha has been building for a while. At the Hadatha Cybersecurity Industry Forum held during COMEX in September 2025, officials reported five new cybersecurity companies, 17 local cybersecurity products and 11 certified local companies, according to Oman Observer. That report also mentioned cybersecurity centres at Sultan Qaboos University and the University of Technology and Applied Sciences.

A month later, MTCIT and Middle East College opened a Hadatha centre at the college's Muscat campus. Its plans included an incubator for cybersecurity research and development and a "Cybersecurity Challenges Platform" to steer academic work towards real problems in government and the private sector, as Times of Oman reported.

The October 2026 exhibition adds six startups and four new prototypes on public display. The ministry has not said whether these six include the five companies counted in 2025. Without names, readers cannot yet check the companies' products, customers or funding on their own.

⚠️ What We Still Don't Know

• Who the startups are: the ministry's release names none of the six companies or four prototypes.
• Commercial outcomes: no contracts, investments or pilot agreements from the exhibition have been announced.
• Funding and timelines: no budget or targets were published for the programme's new role under the National Digital Economy Programme.

For readers following Oman's wider cyber talent push, this is a different route from the defence-sector approach in our earlier report on the Military College's new Cyber Excellence Centre. Hadatha is aimed at founders and commercial products rather than military training.

🇴🇲 Why this matters for Oman

Most of the cybersecurity tools used by Omani banks, utilities and government bodies are imported. Hadatha is a bet that some of that spending can go to Omani companies, and that their products can later be sold elsewhere in the region. Showing startups and centre-built prototypes at a ministry-backed convention is a modest but concrete step from policy to products.

The real test is what comes next. Signs to watch for include named companies winning government or private-sector contracts, investors backing them, and the export pillar producing sales outside Oman. If those follow, Hadatha would directly support Vision 2040's goals of a diversified digital economy and skilled jobs for young Omanis.