Last December, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) marked its first national innovation week. The week refocused the attention of the government’s innovation value chain, challenging service providers to rethink convention in the pursuit of self-improvement. But if the UAE is to realize its smart, connected digital ambitions, it must do more to foster an ecosystem that integrates entrepreneurship and allows ground-breaking ideas to thrive alongside public services and information.
The guiding principle must be to transform life experiences. And, in doing so, to empower the 'digital citizen' by creating an environment in which every man, woman and child becomes hyper-connected to their city – able to seamlessly access its services, information, and places of interest, as well as one another.
While this digital life requires policy makers, investors, and the business community to put the citizen first, it is clear that people are, in the eyes of leadership, central to this nation’s new narrative. Past progress was driven by natural resources and geography, but our future is powered by people. That’s been the message. And if the Innovation Week announcement demonstrates anything, it’s that the commitment of the UAE’s leadership to developing the digital infrastructure highly correlates to the value it puts on its population.
In this context, the pursuit of sustainable urban development can no longer overlook integration.
A fully integrated digital agenda will be greater than the sum of its parts because of the degree to which it shifts the urban paradigm. The digital citizen of the 21st century will be increasingly demanding, but that pressure must be used to fuel progress. Constituents will expect real time information about their roads, their services and their city anywhere and everywhere. Citizens will also demand that digitization saves them time, saves them money, learns their preferences, and gives them direct and tangential choice. But it’s not only about lifestyle and social benefits.
Digital life will also transform business. The way businesses, goods, and services win new customers and drive growth is being transformed by big data and data analytics. Seizing this opportunity requires businesses to navigate the challenges of cyber security, privacy, demanding customer expectations, and disruptive competitors. The industrial order, still reflecting the last millennium’s boundaries, is converging: a smartphone maker will lead in financial transactions, while a web-based merchant overtakes cable providers, and a healthcare provider sees new revenue from gaming go head-to-head with traditional streams.
This is a nation brimming with innovative thinkers. People who think differently and whose natural inclination is to challenge convention and reimagine the future. We must empower them to contribute by putting them at the heart of the innovation agenda, because the digital life we seek will remain out of sight without their ingenuity, clarity and acumen. Private sector involvement must be total and absolute.
The real opportunity is in a future where public government services do not compete against one another but interconnect with – and complement – each other; a future, where technologists, regulators, investors, and academics share a common ambition. And a future where an open, accessible platform ensures all spheres of digitalization converge to accelerate the future benefits of urban life.
Over the last 15 years, the UAE has emerged as a regional pioneer of progress, and a nation recognized for pushing the conventional boundaries of modern civilization. But there is so much more to be achieved. Only by putting the people at the core of our ideas can we continue to successfully reimagine, reinvent, and innovate.
