Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Royal Jordanian and Oasis 500, a leading early-stage seed investment and business accelerator, signed a partnership agreement whereby RJ will generate innovative business ideas across its entire value chain and Oasis 500 will invest and accelerate their growth as startup companies.

RJ President/CEO Captain Haitham Misto signed the partnership with Oasis 500 CEO Yousef Hamidaddin at RJ’s headquarters, in the presence of officials from both companies.

The signing of this agreement comes in the wake of the World Economic Forum, held at the Dead Sea last May under the theme "Relaunching Jordan", where representatives of the two companies met. It realizes His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision of an innovative Jordan and of delivering Amman as the "Capital of Innovation".

"RJ is pleased to be the first airline in the Arab region that signs such an agreement with Oasis 500 to invest in innovative ideas and enhance research and development methodologies that aim at enabling RJ to drive superior performance by facilitating the creation of startups that will eventually contribute to improving operational performance, driving efficiencies that achieve high return on investments, and deliver against increased customer expectations. This is bound to fortify the position of RJ," said Captain Misto.

He stressed that nothing changes the situation of businesses and companies like disruptive innovation and creativity.

Captain Misto pointed out that the partnership with Oasis 500 coincides with the new start RJ is witnessing this year.

"We want to encourage current employees, selected former employees and RJ’s employment applicants to submit their innovative solutions for airline industry challenges in all areas (pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight). RJ will also reach out to its partners base and frequent flyers to a collective platform for innovation," he said.

Hamidaddin said: "Oasis 500 is keen to sign an agreement with the national carrier of Jordan, a rooted and well-established company that employs thousands of creative human assets specialized in the aviation technology, thus qualifying RJ to be a pioneer in innovation and development across the aviation sector globally from Jordan." He highlighted the significance of this partnership that will contribute to improving Jordan's competitiveness index through capacity for innovation, corporate spending on research and development, and procurement of advanced tech products.

He added that Oasis 500 and RJ will the RJ-Oasis 500 innovation open lab to push for innovation across all aspects of RJ’s operations and infrastructure. The lab will support developing regulatory frameworks and legislation for the aviation sector adoption of innovation, such as unmanned aircraft systems. The lab will also help RJ attract investments for the early stage investment ecosystem through leveraging its different touch points, like the in-flight entertainment system, Crown Lounge and the frequent flyer program.

Oasis 500 is a leading early stage and seed investment fund manager with a portfolio of 116 startup companies in Jordan and the MENA region. The program at Oasis 500 develops entrepreneurship training, mentorship guidance, business acceleration, and additional follow-on investment and funding if required, turning new business ideas into startups and helping existing entrepreneurs grow their companies with angel investor and mentor networks. It nurtures creative ideas in information technology (IT), mobile and digital media, as well as ideas in the cultural and creative industries sector, transforming them into startup companies.