Smart Dubai has announced the Dubai Data Private Sector Strategy and Policy today (April 9), designed to enable a data ecosystem, foster stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as making Dubai a data-driven 100 per cent paperless smart city.

The emirate is leading an ambitious and advanced data initiative as part of its journey towards becoming a data-driven smart city, working together with stakeholders from both the private and public sectors.

The launch ceremony brought together local and international senior executives and leaders from across the private and public sectors to discuss opportunities in the four dimensions of a fully optimised, data-driven ecosystem: Governance and Regulation; Technology and Operations; Commercialisation; and People and Engagement.  

Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai, said: “Data is the true wealth of communities; it is an exceptionally effective instrument to achieve sustainable development, and serves as a solid foundation for decision-making. It gives me great pride to say that Dubai is one of the world’s most developed and fastest-growing cities in the data sector, and Smart Dubai is committed to developing plans and strategies that maintain that growth momentum and align with the leadership’s vision for the UAE Centennial 2071.”

“Our emirate has led a steadfast journey towards harnessing the power of data and building a robust infrastructure to put data at the heart of future smart-city plans,” Dr Aisha added. “In fact, the Dubai Data Private Sector Strategy and Policy follow the successful implementation of the Dubai Data Policies at government entities.”

Younus Al Nasser, assistant director general at Smart Dubai, CEO of the Dubai Data Establishment, said: “Smart cities are rooted in data. Aggregating, classifying, and regulating data is indispensable for establishing Dubai as the world’s happiest and smartest city. With that objective in mind, Smart Dubai – the government entity tasked with spearheading the emirate’s smart transformation – launched a series of ground-breaking initiatives, from creating the Dubai Data Establishment and working on the Dubai Data Law, to issuing the Dubai Data Policies for the government sector and, today, the Dubai Data Private Sector Strategy and Policy.”

“Following the successful implementation of the Dubai Data Policies in government entities, we take yet another bold step today, as we prepare to apply these policies to the private sector,” Al Nasser added. “This initiative helps engage the private sector in Dubai’s citywide smart transformation, and further strengthens public-private partnership and collaboration in the emirate, in line with the forward-thinking vision of our wise leadership.”

The event shed light on initiatives, policies, and partnerships launched under each of the initiative’s dimensions and in line with Smart Dubai’s role as a regulator in the data ecosystem. Under Governance and Regulation, Smart Dubai has recently inaugurated the AI Ethics Board for Dubai to help the private sector develop AI systems that balance innovation with social service.

Meanwhile, under Technology and Operations, Smart Dubai is gearing up to explore decentralised data exchange and the prospects of forming a data market to encourage a value-based and secure flow of data between private-sector organisations.

Under Commercialisation, Smart Dubai has expressed a commitment to develop monetizable use cases between key retail partners; and finally, under People and Engagement, Smart Dubai has partnered with Property Finder to create new data products for a vital economic segment, in addition to launching the Data Science Lab, which seeks to develop data science skills in Dubai and foster collaboration among the data science community in the emirate to identify and explore opportunities that will support the creation of a data ecosystem.

Joe Abi Akl, acting chief corporate development officer at Majid Al Futtaim – Holding said: “Increasing the cross-border flow and exchange of data is a crucial step towards greater economic growth for Dubai and the wider region. The Smart Dubai Private Sector Data Strategy will enable this growth by bringing together the public and private sectors to advance the application of data, while ensuring strong governance, privacy and security. At Majid Al Futtaim, we look forward to working with Smart Dubai and other stakeholders to advance the use of data within priority sectors, creating more efficiencies for business and more personalised experiences for customers.”

Property Finder’s Director of Research and Data Lynnette Abad said: “We are delighted to be the pioneers across a range of data innovations with Smart Dubai. As a data-driven company, we are constantly looking for new ways to drive value from our own proprietary data, as well as other data available to us. At Property Finder, we believe that through working together, private and public entities can produce better data-led decisions for people, businesses and government.  This is only the start of the journey. As our partnership strengthens, we will be exploring new opportunities to leverage the power of data and data science together.”

Hazem Galal, partner and global leader for PwC’s Cities and Local Government Sector, said:“We are embarking on a new world of data and analytics, where the future of cities – and the future of any business really – relies on a concerted effort to effectively collect, analyse, and make decisions based on reliable data. Dubai is among the leading cities globally in combining data from the public and private sectors. Entities across the emirate will help bring these ambitious goals to life in a faster, more seamless, and more inclusive manner.”

“According to our estimates, implementing the Dubai Data Policies will generate a combined economic impact of Dh9.6 billion ($2.6 billion) and social impact of 61.1K FTEs. We have identified four priority sectors – Retail, Hospitality and Tourism, Real Estate, and Financial Services – to define the requirements of a private, data-driven ecosystem and how to address the gaps through strategy, policies, and use cases in alignment with Dubai Data’s plans to pursue the role of an enabling regulator in the ecosystem,” Galal added. – TradeArabia News Service