DUBAI SET TO BECOME LEADER IN DATA-DRIVEN ECONOMY

DUBAI — Dubai’s vision to become the happiest city in the world, will hinge heavily on how well various entities in both the public and private sectors are able to utilise data, said Younus Al Nasser, assistant director general at the Smart Dubai Government.

Speaking in a session at the 38th Gitex Technology Week exhibition, Al Nasser highlighted how various smart city initiatives were paving the way for Dubai to become a truly data-driven economy.

“A lot of data is being generated every second from our mobile devices, from our homes, and from where we work,” he said. “But it is those people that will be able to extract value from this data that will drive the economies of the future. Just take a look at what data can and has helped us achieve. Today, we can manage traffic on the roads; we can easily find the best and most economical place to live in; we can safely manage crowds in cities and at large events; and we can even find the best schools for our children to enroll in. All of this is possible thanks to the data that we are collecting.”

Al Nasser also spoke about Dubai Pulse, the city’s digital backbone, which has been instrumental in many of the success stories across Dubai.

“We have empowered data champions across various departments and sectors,” he said. “Today, more than 200 datasets have been published on Dubai Pulse. One of our greatest achievements has been in convincing people that they can benefit from the open data that we provide. Today, it is possible for us to predict the flow of the city from the data that we have collected. Our focus now is on engaging the private sector on smart city initiatives that revolve around data. In addition, we have to look at the commercialisation of data.”