Dubai - MENA Herald: A delegation from the Smart Dubai Office (SDO) led by Director General H.E. Dr. Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General, has met with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA-D), a founding partner in the country’s smart city transformation initiative, to discuss ongoing efforts to forge strategic partnerships across the globe in order to accelerate the UAE’s smart transformation programs. The expanded meeting falls in line with the SDO’s general plan highlighting the importance of collaborative efforts between local and global stakeholders to achieve the best results in various relevant areas.
GDRFA-D Director General H.E. Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri welcomed the SDO delegates, in the presence of directors, department heads and managers. The meeting served as an opportunity for the attendees to learn about the SDO’s roadmap to catapult Dubai into being the world’s smartest city by 2017. H.E. Major General Al Marri reiterated GDRFA-D’s support for the plan as evidenced by its own smart programs and services. H.E. also pointed out the importance of cooperation between both parties to deliver exceptional smart services across the country.
During her speech, H.E. Dr. Bin Bishr quoted H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who said: ‘Our ambition is to touch the life of every individual and achieve a happier life for all.’
She said: “We are inspired by H.H.’s ambition and vision for the people of Dubai. We aim to contribute to his goals by facilitating and unifying all smart transformation efforts across the city to ensure the highest standards of living for all citizens and residents. We can achieve our objectives through the unwavering and unified efforts of all founding partners, including the GDRFA-D.”
After explaining the roadmap for the SDO’s key partners in relation to Dubai’s future, H.E. Bin Bishr tackled GDRFA-D’s prominent role in its relentless pursuit of transforming the emirate into the world’s smartest city.
She added: “Our partnership is the solid foundation for our success as we work towards unifying all smart transformation efforts in Dubai. We have made remarkable progress in this regard and we are here today to discuss with you the ongoing developments of our initiatives to collaborate, overcome obstacles, integrate our work, and mobilize ideas from the public and private sectors in our bid to provide smart services and improve the quality of life and happiness of Dubai’s citizens and residents.”
H.E. Younis Al Nasser, CEO, Dubai Data Establishment, discussed the achievements of SDO’s comprehensive plan. The roadmap aims to further increase the existing smart services and initiatives, while the data law governs the dissemination and exchange of data in the city. The smart city platform was designed to bring Dubai to the next phase of progress.
On the SDO’s restructuring, H.E. Al Nasser said the move is a necessary step towards the city’s smart transformation. The SDO is now under the umbrella of Dubai Smart Government, the technical arm of Smart Dubai, and Dubai Data Establishment, which oversees the dissemination and exchange of data between the public and private sectors. The Office is also part of some committees of Dubai Smart City such as the Smart Infrastructure Committee formed to accelerate the emirate’s transformation. He added: “We aim to make Dubai the world’s happiest city by delivering innovative and smart services that will enhance the quality of life of all people living in the city.”
H.E. Al Nasser further explained the fundamental pillars of the SDO’s initiative, namely efficiency, safety, smoothness, impact, and strength. During his presentation, he presented a summary on open data and common data and their impact on decision makers, employers, citizens, residents, and visitors. Dubai Data approves, supervises and implements policies, authorizes data classification, identifies the reference records, and monitors compliance of data providers to the adopted policies.
H.E. Wesam Al Abbas Lootah, CEO, Dubai Smart Government, shared Dubai Data’s achievements and progress as well as its strategy’s four pillars. The first pillar focuses on interconnected services as an indicator of happiness and ‘Dubai Now’ application, a comprehensive platform for integrated services and in which 22 entities offering more than 50 smart services are involved. Among these services are those offered by the GDRFA - Dubai, one of the first entities to tap smart applications for its services.
The second pillar covers enabling services such as the single sign-in ‘My E-Identity,’ which enables user to access more than 640 services and growing number of electronic payment options. The third pillar is the common infrastructure such as the government private cloud service and government information network. Lastly, the fourth pillar involves common applications such as the government resource planning, where more than 50 government entities are involved, as well as data analysis and government correspondence system services.
H.E. Lootah also discussed the Dubai Smart Platform, the new digital backbone, and the latest updates allowing joint bodies to place, update and further develop their smart services in the platform to address a user’s demand for an open channel that is available to all individuals and entities. Designed to benefit all individuals and organizations, the platform aims to unify all services as well as big data, cloud computing, and Internet of Things. In addition, it will also enable strategic partners to ensure that the private sector maximizes the use of open and common data.
H.E. Dr. Bin Bishr underscored that the SDO’s strategic initiatives require the support and cooperation of all government entities, such as the Dubai Smart Platform, Dubai Data, ICT Committee, and the Happiness Index. The two sides emphasized the need to cooperate and consolidate their efforts in all areas to achieve the vision of the country’s wise leaders through regular meetings among work teams. This will contribute to the development of innovative solutions in line with the SDO’s goals.
Established in 2015 in pursuant to Law No. (29) of 2015, the Smart Dubai Office aims to provide strategic initiatives and develop partnerships to contribute to Dubai's smart economy, smart governance, smart environment, smart living, smart individuals, and smart mobility efforts to make the emirate the world’s smartest and happiest city.
- العربية
- English
