Smart Dubai and du introduce new digital platform

Smart Dubai has announced the Smart Dubai Platform, a digital backbone powering the city in the near future, in partnership with Strategic Partner, du.

The Smart Dubai Platform will be the central operating system for the city, providing access to city services and data for all individuals, private sector as well as public sector entities.

The Smart Dubai Platform is a unique undertaking for any city in the world. Several leading cities have established ICT platforms, but often limited them to specific uses or a single dimension. The newly-conceived Smart Dubai Platform unites city services, IoT, cloud services, Big Data and digital identity across all city dimensions to build the most comprehensive exchange point for government and private sector services, delivering unprecedented value for the city.

The Smart Dubai Platform will be developed and implemented by du, in an ambitious and unique public-private partnership model that will set new benchmarks for cross-sector partnerships for smart city initiatives globally.

“Our vision has consistently been to transform Dubai into the happiest city on Earth. The Smart Dubai Platform forms the backbone of our smart city transformation. Uniting the city’s physical infrastructure, open and shared data, and citywide smart applications, the Platform will become the central ‘operating system’ and the nerve centre for Dubai.

“We envision radical enhancements to our city leadership decision-making, operational efficiencies, and daily quality of life: for a city planner, directing operational cost-savings into data-driven research and development; for a mother, checking health data from her child’s school to determine if a flu vaccination is required; for a father, reviewing household energy consumption to conserve resources and save money for a family vacation; for a tourist, utilising the live public transportation data to make the most out of his time spent in the city; and for all commuters, enjoying reduced traffic congestion as more and more services are transacted online,” said Dr. Aisha bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office.

As the Strategic Partner for the Smart Dubai Platform, du brings a thorough know-how of Dubai’s landmark approach to smart cities, exemplified by the company’s ongoing smart city initiatives, continuing investment in smart infrastructure and long-standing support of entrepreneurship and fostering innovation. In delivering the Smart Dubai Platform, du will pioneer a cap-ex free, flexible, partnership-based business model that is unlike any platform-based city model operating in the World today.

“The introduction of the Smart Dubai platform marks a significant step towards the UAE’s smart city transformation. du has supported the UAE leadership’s smart city vision by introducing the infrastructure with the capabilities of empowering all UAE entities to step into a smart future,” said Osman Sultan, Chief Executive Officer, du. “At du, we consider our contribution as being an essential mainstay to the local economy, as well as the facilitator of a collaborative ecosystem between a whole host of public and private players.”

“The Smart Dubai Platform has been envisioned through a detailed and collaborative scoping process that placed the customer at the center. This meticulous process has resulted in a Smart City Platform blueprint that is unlike any other globally and encompasses the full city. We are reshaping the way government services are structured to meet the needs of the customer, rather than the other way around.” Dr. Aisha bin Bishr added.

In accordance with the Dubai Data Law, the Smart Dubai Platform will facilitate the exchange of open and shared data between the public sector, private sector and individuals, creating new opportunities for engagement, contributing to the smart city future of Dubai.

By centralising data and sharing tools, the Smart Dubai Platform will enhance synergies between government and private sector services, optimising cost and delivering time saving benefits to both organisations and customers alike.

The Smart Dubai Platform will significantly enhance real-time and data-driven decision making capabilities for the city government, enabling city leaders to engage in community-wide dialogues and analyse rich city data across multiple dimensions. The Platform will also enable the continued enhancement of existing smart initiatives and services through data-driven analysis and innovation.

The Smart Dubai Platform will become an essential asset for Dubai’s economic growth and diversification, stimulating the high-tech sector in domains such as Big Data, Data Analytics, Cloud Services, and IoT, to drive value for governments, private sector and individuals. Local high-tech talent and job skill development will also increase in response to the developing market.

In line with the mission of Smart Dubai, the Smart Dubai Platform will leverage the latest technological innovation to facilitate the exchange and delivery of city data and services, to make Dubai a more seamless, safe, efficient and impactful city experience for all residents and visitors.