Dubai: Dubai’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has officially unveiled Dubai’s Digital Strategy, indicating a significant leap towards digital transformation and reinforcing the city’s ambition to become a global benchmark in this field.
The newly launched Digital Strategy encompasses a comprehensive vision to digitise all aspects of life in Dubai, establishing a robust digital infrastructure that fosters a digitally empowered society and boosts the digital economy. It revolves around seven key pillars: the digital city, the digital economy, data and statistics, digital talent, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital competitiveness.
Dubai has completed three outstanding phases in its digital journey, starting with the launch of the region’s first e-government in 2001, followed by a smart government initiative in 2013, and then the government-wide digital transformation, which culminated in fully eliminating paper transactions by the end of 2021. These stages served as the prelude to Dubai’s new Digital Strategy, which cements Dubai’s position as the world’s digital capital. The period ahead calls for intensifying efforts, strengthening cooperation, and promoting proactive thinking and innovation to achieve major goals.
Sheikh Hamdan shared.
Mr. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of Digital Dubai, commented that “Digital Dubai will work with all of our partners, including government entities and private establishments, as one team tasked with optimally implementing the Strategy, all the while keeping pace with promising technologies, so that together, we add a new success story to Dubai’s history and chart a new future centred around a comprehensive digital life.”
The Strategy aims to enhance the digital economy’s outputs, increase the positive impact of Digital Wellbeing by 90 percent, achieve top rankings in the United Nations’ Local Online Service Index, and introduce 50 seamless, interconnected, proactive, predictable, and high-impact digital city experiences. Additionally, the strategy seeks to equip more than 50,000 professionals with advanced digital qualifications.
The launch of this strategy by Sheikh Hamdan signifies a significant milestone in Dubai’s digital transformation journey. The government has achieved a digitization rate of 99.5 percent for its services, successfully eliminating the use of paper in all government operations, and digital transactions now account for 87 percent of total government service transactions. Moreover, over 120 government smartphone applications have been developed, and government entities boast an impressive compliance rate of over 80 percent with cybersecurity indicators and 100 percent compliance with the Dubai Data Law.