Dubai Customs has been crowned at the top of the world’s innovation and creativity realms upon winning the grand prize from Ideas UK Association for the year.

It has become the first government entity to receive the recognition and has also secured the platinum level accreditation for implementing suggestions system, said a statement.

The ‘Grand Idea of the Year’ award was given for its recently invention - Al Kashif Vehicle, which is the first of its kind innovation in the  Middle East and beyond, it said.

The Al-Kashif idea has been adopted in many countries worldwide.

The trophy, which was introduced 72 years ago by Ideas UK, is an acknowledgement in the area of innovations and suggestions. It is annually presented to the best organisation worldwide in the field.      

The awarding ceremony, which was held by Ideas UK Association, brought together several government and private organisations from around the globe, including nine public and private institutions representing the UAE.

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, director of Dubai Customs, said: “The prestigious global award received by Dubai Customs from Ideas UK is an expression our commitment to nurturing a solid culture of innovation and creativity among our employees.”       

Musabih affirmed that DC will continue developing its Suggestions System, adding that “this will be among the organisation’s top priorities for the next stage in order to increase efficacy of customs performance using employees’ creative ideas aiming to leverage our services and operations.”

The proceeds Dubai Customs generated from the implementation of staff suggestions between 2005 and the second half of this year amounted to about Dh1 billion ($272.1 million), following the application of as many as 1,364 suggestions, he said.

Ideas UK is an non-profit association with a mission to promote employee involvement programs worldwide, said the statement.

The association is aimed at assisting organisations - in both the public and private sectors - to develop robust ideas and suggestions systems and to provide a forum for membership networking. - TradeArabia News Service