Workshop on open data for entrepreneurs
DUBAI: Dubai Startup Hub, an entrepreneurship initiative from Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber), hosted an open data workshop in cooperation with Smart Dubai - the government department mandated to ensure Dubai becomes the world’s smartest and happiest city. Taking place at Dubai Chamber’s head office, the first in a series of three training workshops placed a focus on open data in relation to the tourism in the health sector.
The workshop was organised following the best practice advice of a whitepaper issued recently by Dubai Startup Hub on the necessity of start-ups investing in open data to help them gauge whether there is a need for their particular products or services in the market. The report recommends holding regular training and education workshops and running awareness campaigns related to data to help entrepreneurs and start-ups become fully competent.
The workshop was attended by Amna Al Suwaidi, Head of the Follow-up and Development Department at Dubai Health Authority (DHA)’S Medical Tourism Office; Osama El-hassan from the ehealth Section at DHA; and Mariam Ahmed Al Shamsi, Senior Manager at Dubai Economy. The government department representatives provided open data information relating to their respective departments for the entrepreneurs.
Participants at the session were given a short introductory business model presentation and then they worked on two case studies under the topic ‘Medical Tourism’, using available sources and data platforms, including “Dubai Pulse” and “Bayanat.uae”, as well as data provided by Smart Dubai.
“This workshop represents the tangible implementation of the recommendations of the report, which we issued recently in collaboration with global strategy consulting firm Roland Berger. Entrepreneurs frequently face difficulties in accessing data to verify the appropriateness of their products in the marketplace.”