Partnerships with the private sector are vital to fully take advantage of the ever-evolving technological developments towards creating smart cities, according to Moza Al Suwaidan, director of strategy and innovation at Digital Dubai.
Al Suwaidan was speaking during the opening panel discussion at the inaugural AB Technology Forum on Wednesday entitled ‘Digital landscape of the future – what smart cities mean for businesses’.
She said: “It’s absolutely a mission for us. It’s no longer an option. We’re not talking about, we’re going to enable the city experiences and boost the economy and encourage a digital society, as a government. That’s absolutely out of the question. We have it as a mission and mandate to collaborate and partner with the private sector, very close collaboration. It’s almost co-creating the city of Dubai.”
Dubai launched its digital transformation journey 20 years ago through E-government, followed by Smart Government, Dubai Smart City and, most recently launched by Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, Digital City.
And Al Suwaidan, who revealed 90 percent of Dubai’s government services are available online, admitted the continued success relied on strong links with the private sector.
She said: “There are a lot of opportunities there. We’ve been going through digital transformation for 20 years, we have built the foundations to make Dubai an attractive destination for digital investments in this region and around the globe as well.
“There are a lot of hidden gems around the city, definitely business opportunities that should be leveraged. We’re talking about city experiences, connected services between the government and private sector.
“I can see new services, new businesses, new markets being created as a result of that kind of collaboration.”
Nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, according to the 2018 Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects produced by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
The projections indicate that urbanisation combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add around 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050.
L-R: Staff Writer; Akef Alaqrabawi; Moza Al Suwaidan; Thibault Werlé and Dr. Mai ElBarachi. Image: ITP Media Group.
Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan, launched earlier this year, set a host of ambitious targets including to increase the emirate’s population from just 3.3 million today up to 5.8m.
Thibault Werlé, managing director and partner, technology, media & telecommunications of emerging technologies at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), agreed that the opportunities for the private sector were massive and stressed technology must run hand-in-hand with sustainability.
He said: “I think you cannot speak about the future without speaking about sustainability. I think we’re going to see more and more investment in technology for the sustainability agenda. The CEO of Blackrock actually recently said in an interview that he is expecting to see dozens of unicorns within technology.
“I think that’s true. I think we’re going to see a lot of investment because that’s definitely where one of the key trends we’re seeing. We’re talking about smart mobility, smart waste management in the context of smart cities and I think we’ll see that a lot more in the coming years, not just on the regional agenda, but on the global agenda as well.
“If we want cities to be sustainable then technology will be there.”
Also speaking on the panel were Akef Alaqrabawi, CEO of Injaz Al Arab; and Dr. Mai ElBarachi, associate dean of research & associate professor – faculty of Engineering & Information Services Technologies, at the University of Wollongong, Dubai.
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